


The Law of Attraction

by FadedRiddler



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:34:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21902314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FadedRiddler/pseuds/FadedRiddler
Summary: Emma Swan is a sophomore at Storybrooke University and is taking Physics 101 for the college credit, and on the first day of class, she finds out that her teacher Regina Mills is smoking hot.
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 57
Kudos: 350





	1. Late on the first day

Emma's in the middle of a dream when the alarm on her phone goes off. She presses snooze, but the alarm keeps ringing, so naturally, she groans, yanks the phone off the charger, and throws it across the dorm room. It hits the wall with a thud, but the alarm shuts off, so Emma goes back to sleep. 

She wakes up forty-five minutes later, and sees with horror that it's 8:15. Her first class of the day starts at 8:30, and it's all the way across campus. 

"Shit," Emma mutters and jumps out of bed. She tugs jeans on while she runs to the bathroom, and throws a red leather jacket over the shirt she slept in, not even bothering to put on a bra. She brushes her teeth and runs her fingers through her long, blonde hair in an attempt to smooth it down. It doesn't work, but Emma doesn't have time to care. She slides her feet in a pair of boots and is sprinting out of her room in a record three minutes. 

It takes her twenty minutes to get to her class, mainly because she gets lost four times, and she throws open the door while gasping for breath. She didn't even want to take Physics 101, but apparently she needs a science credit to graduate, even if she plans on doing nothing remotely close to it. 

She stumbles down the row and falls into a chair, and looks around, just noticing that everyone is staring at her. 

"You're late," the professor says, and Emma almost falls to the ground. The professor is very young - maybe older twenties, Emma guesses - and is incredibly attractive. She has short, dark hair, perfect olive skin, and her red dress hugs her curves. Emma swallows hard. She's so glad she took this course. "As I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted," the teacher says with a glare to Emma, but all Emma can think about is how hot her voice sounds. "My name is Professor Mills. This is my second year teaching here, and although this is a beginner's course to Physics, do not think I won't hesitate to fail you if you blow this class off because you're just here for the credit." Regina glances at Emma for a second before the blonde looks away. "Any questions?" A few people put their hand in the air. "Nope? Great. The first lesson is..." Regina launches into a detailed lesson about vectors, but Emma doesn't hear any of it. She's too busy ogling her professor. 

When Professor Mills dismisses the class later, she asks Emma to stay behind. She waits until everyone has left before walking up to the brunette's desk, biting her lip. Her professor's eyes rake down Emma's body, taking in her disheveled hair and her oversized pajama shirt. Emma shivers under her gaze. 

"What's your name?" 

"Emma Swan," Emma says, proud of herself for not forgetting her name. "I'm really sorry that I was late earlier, I had a problem with my alarm. It won't happen again, I promise." Professor Mills stares at her for a second, and then nods. Emma lets out a long breath. 

"See that it doesn't. I hate when people come into my lessons late. If you're not going to be here on time, then why bother coming at all?" she asks, and Emma feels like this is a trick question. She doesn't know what to say, so she just shrugs. "My class is at 8:30 Wednesday morning. That's in two days. Do you need me to send you an email reminder tomorrow night?" 

Emma's face burns and she shakes her head. "No, ma'am. I'll be there." Professor Mills seems satisfied with this. 

"Great. I look forward to seeing you then, Miss Swan," she practically purrs, and then brushes past Emma to walk to the door. Emma silently curses herself for not getting up at her alarm this morning. She swears that she will be here ten minutes early on Wednesday. 

The rest of the day goes by in a blur, with Emma still only thinking of her Physics professor. Her eyes snap to every brunette in the diner on campus that night, praying to see her teacher. She's always disappointed. 

"Emma, are you even listening to me?" she hears someone say to her, and she looks back to her best friend, Ruby Lucas. Ruby is telling a story about her girlfriend, Dorothy, and Emma has completely zoned out. 

"No, sorry," Emma sighs. Ruby frowns and steals a fry from Emma's plate. 

"What's up?" she asks. Emma winces at the sight of the chewed up fry in her mouth. 

"You took Physics 101 last year, right?" Most people in Emma's year took a science class their freshman year to get it out of the way, but Emma decided to wait until her sophomore year. Consequently, she knows no one in her Physics class as they're all in the grade below her. 

Ruby nods and takes another fry. Emma swats her hand. 

"Did you have Professor Mills?" Emma asks and Ruby chokes. 

"Mills? Oh, yeah. Good luck with her. Everyone calls her the Evil Queen, cause she's evil," Ruby explains and Emma purses her lips. 

"I figured that one out, thanks," Emma says. 

"Anyway, her class is impossible. You better write down every word she says, because she'll talk about something once, and then there'll be an entire section on it on the test. Plus, she's a stone cold bitch. August Booth had surgery last year and was out for almost a month and Mills still made him take the final exam," Ruby tells her with wide eyes. Emma groans and drops her head in her hands. She spent the entire class today just staring at her teacher's rocking body. She is so going to fail. "Hey, don't worry. I know you're not great at science, but I'll give you my notes and I can help you study." 

Emma smiles. "Thank you so much. Did you do alright in the class?" 

Ruby laughs. "Oh, no. I got a C, which is just passing, and that was the third highest grade anyone got in her class. And I actually want to major in a science field." Emma feels sick now. Ruby is really smart, and if she just got by in the class, Emma is royally screwed. "Speak of the devil," Ruby whispers and a nod of her head and Emma spins around to see Professor Mills enter the diner. She doesn't even notice Emma and Ruby, and she goes up to the counter to order something. 

"Oh, my god," Ruby says, watching Emma stare at her. "You like her!" 

"What? Who? I don't know what you're talking about," Emma hisses, but the blush on her face proves otherwise. 

"You think she's hot!" Ruby exclaims and Emma shushes her. "Professor Mills!" Ruby shouts before Emma can stop her. The teacher turns around and starts to walk over to them. 

"Miss Lucas," she greets. "Miss Swan." Emma forces a smile and stares at the food in front of her. 

"How are you today?" Ruby asks, and Emma wants to crawl under the table. 

"I would be much better if Miss Swan had not interrupted my class earlier by coming in late," Professor Mills replies, glancing pointedly at Emma who shakily laughs. Ruby cracks up like it's the funniest thing she's ever heard. 

"Regina! Over here!" someone with a british accent yells, and the professor stiffens. Emma, now armed with the knowledge of her teacher's first name, tracks the voice down to a pale woman, with curly orangish hair. She wonders how they know each other.

"Enjoy your dinner, girls," Regina says tightly and leaves them. Ruby is still laughing. 

"You should've seen your face when I called her name," Ruby wheezes. Emma rolls her eyes and throws a fry at her. "You froze, and I thought you were going to die when she walked over here." Ruby wipes a tear from her eye while grinning. 

"Very funny," Emma says sarcastically. She tilts her head toward the woman Regina is with. "Do you know who she is?" 

"Oh, yeah, that's Zelena. She teaches Classics 101. I think they're actually half-sisters," Ruby tells her. "What, are you jealous?" she asks with a smirk and Emma adamantly shakes her head. "You so are! I cannot believe you have a crush on the Evil Queen!" 

"I don't have a crush on her! I just think she's very attractive," Emma admits. 

"Amen, sister," Ruby says, raising her glass of water in the air to toast it. 

Regina stops by their table when she's leaving and Emma forces herself to meet the professor's eyes. "8:30 on Wednesday, Miss Swan," she reminds Emma again. "And maybe this time, you should think about taking notes. I noticed you were a little _distracted_ today." At the word distracted, Regina runs her eyes over Emma's body, and smirks. She walks out of the restaurant before Emma can think of a reply. 

"Jesus Christ," Emma mutters and rubs her head. 

"Dude, she totally wants to fuck you!" Ruby says. "Did you see the way she looked at you? It was like you were her favorite meal and she hasn't eaten in days!" Emma shivers at the words. 

"No, she just wants me to show up to class on time," Emma half-heartedly argues, certain that Regina's smirk is the only thing she will think about for the next week. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Let's get out of here, I'm tired." Ruby slaps a twenty dollar bill on the table, covering both her and Emma's dinner. Emma thanks her, and they head back to the dorms. 

Once Emma's in her room alone, she flops onto her bed and closes her eyes, imagining Regina's face when she sees the blonde waiting for her to arrive outside the classroom on Wednesday morning. She will be so shocked, and hopefully will smirk at Emma again. 

Emma might not know anything about physics, but she does know one thing. 

She is completely screwed. 


	2. Pop quiz

It's Tuesday night, and Emma decides to set her alarm for 7:30 the next morning. That gives her thirty minutes to get ready, and then thirty minutes to get across campus, which is more than enough time. 

She crawls into her bed and tosses and turns at the thought of seeing Regina. Emma decides that she needs to look hot tomorrow, in hopes to catch the brunette staring. Or maybe Regina won't even look at her, and then she would've wasted an entire outfit. But if what Ruby said was true yesterday about Regina looking like she wants to fuck her, then hopefully she'll get her attention. 

Emma slowly drifts off into a fitful sleep, waking up every so often with her heart racing because of a dream with Regina. She finally has enough and decides to get out of bed for awhile. It's 3:15 in the morning, and it's not like Emma can just go stroll around campus, so she settles for doing chin ups on the bar above her doorway. She lets out a grunt every time she pulls herself up, but not loud enough to wake her roommate, Mary Margaret, who's in the room next to her. 

After doing a casual twenty, she drops and does push ups until her arms are burning. Emma is very strong, but she's not bulky with muscle; instead her body is lean and toned. She's found out that both girls and boys find her fit body attractive. 

She lays back in bed and quickly falls asleep, too worn out to dream about Regina again, but she does wake up an hour before her alarm is set to go off. She groans and decides to just get up and take a shower. 

She washes her hair and finds herself thinking of her dreams last night. She had a particular hot one that she can remember all the details from. 

_"Miss Swan, please stay after class," Regina had said. Emma had obeyed and walked over to her, where she found Regina slowly unbuttoning her blouse. "You failed the test, but luckily for you, I have some extra credit for you."_

Emma slides a hand between her thighs and finds herself wet and moans. 

_"Oh, thank you, Professor Mills," Emma had said graciously, finishing what Regina was doing by ripping her shirt off. Regina gasped and kissed Emma roughly. Emma was shoved against Regina's desk and she sat on it, wrapping her legs around the teacher, pulling her closer._

_"Anything for you, Miss Swan. After all, you're my favorite student," Regina purred in her ear._

Emma comes with a gasp in the shower and wonders what the hell is wrong with her, fantasizing about a teacher. She quickly washes herself and wraps a towel around herself and goes to pick out an outfit. She decides on a gray tank top and tight jeans that Ruby has said make her ass look great on multiple occasions. She flexes in the mirror and nods. She looks hot. 

It's only 7:15 by the time Emma is ready to go, so she just decides to go walking around campus. 

"Emma, you look great!" Emma's roommate, Mary Margaret, says once the blonde comes out of her room. Mary Margaret has a pixie cut, warm brown eyes, and a smile for everyone. She's dating David Nolan, who Emma respects. 

"Thanks, Mary Margaret," Emma says. "What's your first class?"

"Oh, I have English with David at eight. He's coming by soon so we can walk together."

Looks like Emma's on her own then. She says goodbye to her roommate and then she's breathing in the salty Maine air, picking a random direction to head. It's only twenty minutes before Emma gets bored, and decides to head back to her room to watch Netflix. 

"Miss Swan!" someone calls, and Emma freezes, realizing she's right outside Regina's office. She turns slowly to see Regina strolling over to her, looking impeccable in a black dress and a maroon blazer. Her heeled boots come up to her knees, and god, she's stunning. 

"Oh, hey, Professor Mills," Emma says nervously. 

"As much as I appreciate you getting here early, my class doesn't start for another hour," Regina says and crosses her arms over her chest, waiting for an explanation. 

"I'm either too early, or I'm late. I guess I can't win," Emma jokes, but it falls flat when the brunette doesn't move. "I woke up really early today and I decided to go for a walk. I didn't even realize that this was your office," she explains. And it's true, she had just entered into a random building that looked cool on the outside. Of course Regina's office happened to be there. She can tell that the professor thinks she's lying. 

"Well, dear, my office hours are from 5-7 pm, so if you have a question or something, I'm sure it can wait until class."

"Oh, right, of course," Emma replies, but doesn't move. Regina raises an eyebrow. 

"Something else, Miss Swan?" Regina asks. Emma shakes her head, cursing herself for being such a fool. Why is she still standing here?

"Nope," she rasps and turns on her heel and gets the hell out of there as fast as she can. 

She decides to go to the campus Starbucks and get a hot chocolate. She finds an empty table and sits at it, still having forty-five minutes to kill before Regina's class. All of a sudden, Ruby plops herself down in the chair across from her and apologizes. 

"Jesus, you scared me," Emma says, but Ruby doesn't laugh. "What's going on?" 

"Um, so you know Killian Jones?" Ruby asks and Emma frowns. Killian Jones is one of Emma's least favorite people. He's arrogant, misogynistic, and always smells like rum. "I might've promised him that you'd go out with him." Emma spits out her hot chocolate all over the table. 

"What?" she barks. Killian has been asking out Emma since the day that they met, and since she despises him, she's always refused. "Why?"

"He's been hitting on my girlfriend and he promised that if I got him a date with you that he'd leave Dorothy alone. I'm really sorry, Emma, but she gets really uncomfortable and I figured that it'd be funny to watch you insult him the entire date." 

Emma clenches her fists. "Don't be sorry. You were just being a good girlfriend. God, I hate him so much." They spend the next thirty minutes talking about all the awful things he's done. "Shit, I gotta go," Emma says, looking at her watch, and jumps out of her chair. "I'll see you later." She takes off, and thankfully, the Starbucks isn't that far away from the lecture hall where she has class, so she gets there in five minutes, achieving her goal to be ten minutes early. She's even there before Regina. 

She hears heels on the tile floor and shoots Regina a smug smile when the brunette's eyes widen playfully with shock. 

"Even after I saw you this morning, I was still guessing that you'd be late," Regina says and unlocks the door. Emma walks inside and Regina follows her and turns on the lights. 

"Well I'm happy that I proved you wrong. It'd be a shame to have to miss this class," Emma remarks, referencing Regina's belief that if a person is late, they shouldn't come at all. Regina nods and places her bag down on her desk. 

"It'd be a shame to have you miss this class," Regina replies neutrally, sitting back in her chair. Emma doesn't sit at a table, but instead walks over to Regina's side of the desk and leans against it. She can feel Regina's eyes on her as Emma pretends to be interested in the white board. 

"What are we doing in class today?" Emma asks, not sure if Regina will tell her or not, but figures it's worth a shot. Regina smirks and rests her head on her hand, watching the blonde carefully. 

"A pop quiz," she says, and Emma's stomach drops. She didn't pay attention at all to the last lesson. She's so screwed. 

"That's a joke, right? Ha ha, very funny." 

"It's no joke, Miss Swan. I'm giving you a pop quiz on what I talked about on Monday. I think it's very easy, it should be no problem if you just listened," Regina tells her. She knows damn well that the blonde was not listening, and Emma can't help but think that's why she's doing this. Except, that's not very likely at all. "Now, please go take a seat. The other students will be in shortly." Emma does as Regina asks, but not without glaring at her professor first. 

"Okay, take out a pen. We're having a pop quiz. You have fifteen minutes once the first quiz is out!" Regina announces once everyone's in their seats, and there's a collective groan. She walks around the classroom, handing pieces of paper to each kid. Emma clenches her teeth and meets Regina's eyes when Regina gives her a quiz. Regina smirks and whispers "Good luck". 

She looks down at the paper and closes her eyes tightly. She doesn't know any of this. She searches her brain, begging it to have picked up something from Monday, but she's only drawing blanks. 

"Two minutes left!" Regina says and Emma wants to bang her head on the table. Maybe if she knocks herself out, Regina will take pity and not count this. She scribbles down random answers right as Regina calls time. "You have the rest of the period to do whatever you want," Regina tells them once all the quizzes are collected. Emma pulls out her phone and scrolls through Instagram, trying to distract herself from Regina grading the papers a few yards away. 

There's three minutes left in class when Regina hands everyone back their quizzes. Emma's is drenched in red ink with the words "See me after class" written on them in neat cursive. Of course her handwriting would be perfect. 

Emma doesn't even get up when the class is dismissed. Regina comes over and sits on the edge of the table. 

"You're not off to a great start in my class, Miss Swan," Regina states. Emma shrugs, still looking at the F on her paper. "Care to explain why?" 

"I don't know," Emma replies. 

"You don't know?" Emma shakes her head and Regina looks disappointed. "Well, maybe if you stopped staring at the professor so much, that might help." 

"Well, maybe if the professor wasn't so hot, that might help too," Emma retorts before her brain can tell her not to. Emma's heart stops and Regina looks taken aback. _Fuck._ "I'm sorry, I need to go," Emma chokes out before sprinting out of the classroom. 

Jesus Christ, what has she done?


	3. We need to talk, Miss Swan

The next time Emma sees Regina is when she shows up right on time for class on Friday. She's taken extra care to avoid the professor around campus, even though she has yet to see her outside of class in the past few days. 

Emma lowers herself into a chair and hastily takes out a notebook and pencil. She really needs to pay attention today; her current grade in the class is an F, because the only grade in the books is the pop quiz that she failed. She looks up and is startled to see that Regina is already staring at her, regarding her with curiosity, not anger. Emma's eyes quickly flit away before she becomes a tomato. 

She does her best to write down everything Regina says, only glancing up from her paper to see what the professor has written on the board. Once or twice, she catches herself gazing toward Regina's ass, and quickly tears her eyes away to look back at the board. She can't be caught staring again, because god only knows what she'll say the next time Regina confronts her about it. 

She cringes as she remembers what she said to Regina two days ago. _Well, maybe if my professor wasn't so hot, that might help too._ She won't be surprised if the brunette never talks to her again. She'll probably even decide to fail Emma, just for the fun of it. She was set up to fail anyway, so at least now it won't look suspicious when Regina flunks her on purpose because of her comment. 

"Miss Swan?" Regina says, and Emma snaps back to attention. _Fuck_. She has no idea what's going on. She hears kids snickering as Emma stares blankly at the professor. "Could you answer the question please?" 

Emma's eyes scan the whiteboard quickly. It's a word problem. A word problem that Emma has no idea how to solve. She fidgets for a few seconds, trying to buy time so she doesn't look like an idiot, but she figures it's too late for that. 

She is a _complete_ idiot who is crushing on her teacher. She's also a complete idiot _for_ crushing on her teacher. 

"I don't know," she finally mumbles, slouching in her seat. Regina rolls her eyes and calls on someone else. He rattles off an answer, and Regina nods at him and writes it on the board. Emma copies the entire problem and solution into her notebook, making a mental note to have Ruby tutor her before the next class. 

"Does everyone understand this?" Regina asks, eyes lingering on Emma, who nods along with everyone else. "Good, because there will be a forty question quiz on this next class." Emma groans and drops her head in her hands. She understands nothing, and it's not like she can ask the professor for help after what happened. She prays that Ruby can perform miracles, because lord knows Emma needs one right now. "Class dismissed." 

Emma stands up and heads to the door, determined to be the first one out. 

"Miss Swan, we need to talk," Regina says just before Emma pushes the door open. She stops right where she is and doesn't move until everyone else has left the classroom. Emma stares longingly at them through the small window on the door, and then turns around. Regina is leaning against her desk, arms crossed, looking expectantly at the blonde. Emma slowly steps toward her. 

"I'm sorry about what I said on Wednesday," Emma apologizes lamely. Regina just stares at her, and after about thirty seconds, the blonde starts to squirm under her intense gaze. 

"What am I going to do with you?" Regina mutters to herself and walks around her desk to her chair. 

"What do you mean?" Emma's afraid for the response. 

"I mean, you don't listen or take notes at all in my class, you make inappropriate comments to your professor, and it's very clear to me that you don't understand the material at all. Are you trying to get attention? Because if so, Miss Swan, I have noticed you, but I don't think it's the kind of attention you were hoping for," Regina says sternly, and Emma turns red and looks down at her shoes. "And do you want to know what I think of you?" She doesn't wait for Emma to respond. "I think that you're blatantly disrespectful and that you're going to fail my class." 

"Professor, please. I can't fail this class, I need the credits to graduate. Is there anything I can do?" The moment she says it out loud, she realizes how dirty that sounded. Regina raises an eyebrow. "And I don't mean anything, like _anything_ , I just mean like, I can get a tutor or something," Emma hastily adds. 

Regina smirks. "How about I tutor you?" 

Emma chokes. The entire reason she needs help in this class is because she can't keep her eyes or her mind off Regina. And Regina knows that! 

"Oh, you don't have to do that. My friend took your class last year, I'm sure she can help me," Emma says and her professor waves a hand. 

"Your friend took my class last year and got a C, if we're talking about Miss Lucas. I am offering to tutor you for free, and I know this course better than anyone. How could you refuse that?" Regina asks, a knowing look in her eyes. It becomes very clear to Emma that Regina likes making her all flustered. 

"I just don't want you to have to go out of your way to help a blatantly disrespectful student like myself, Professor Mills." Emma twists the brunette's words smoothly and Regina looks almost impressed. "And, I don't want to overstep or anything, but why are you even willing to do this for me?" 

Regina shrugs. "I'm happy to help all my students, but it seems like you are the only one who's struggling." 

Emma makes a face. "Only like five people passed your class last year. Why didn't you help them?" 

"None of them asked," Regina retorts. 

"Well I didn't ask either," Emma says, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Having Regina tutor her will surely be the death of her, but part of Emma wants to accept the offer just so she can spend more time with the brunette. Unfortunately, one of Emma's biggest flaws is pride, and she never admits that she needs help. "So thanks, but no thanks. I'm sure Ruby can help me just fine." Regina looks at her with an amused face, and Emma just storms out of the classroom. 

That night, Emma decides to clean out her inbox while procrastinating her thesis that's due on Monday for her English class and almost has a heart attack when she sees she has an email from _MillsR@Storybrookeuni.org_. 

She hesitantly clicks on it and scans the email. 

_Miss Swan,_

_Just in case you want to reconsider my offer, I'll be in my office tomorrow at 5 pm._

_Best wishes,_

_Professor Mills_

She's about to just delete the email and go out drinking until she forgets who Regina even is when the thought of failing the forty question quiz on Monday makes her stop and think. She knows deep down that Ruby can't give her the help she needs, especially not on the weekend, when Ruby is partying with Dorothy all night and sleeping all day. She also knows that she won't be able to pass the class if she doesn't get her act together. 

Against all her better judgement, she cracks her fingers and types back a reply. 

_Professor Mills,_

_I'll be there._

_Thanks,_

_Emma Swan_

She exhales slowly and shuts her laptop, feeling both excited and nervous for tomorrow. She feels like maybe she should at least try to become familiar with what Regina's been teaching them, but decides to put that off to tomorrow. 

She climbs into bed and lays awake for awhile, thinking about Regina. 

_It's 5 o'clock sharp when Emma knocks on the door. Regina calls out for her to enter. Once inside the office, Emma's eyes trail up and down the brunette's body. She looks so sexy in her gray pencil skirt and blue silky button down._

_"I'm here for your help," Emma says, bowing her head. It's been awhile since she's admitted that to anyone._

_Regina walks over, heels clanking on the tile, and pushes Emma's chin up with a finger. "I'm willing to give you extra credit if you do one thing for me," the professor whispers huskily into the blonde's ear._

_"What's that?" Emma breathes. Her heart is racing._

_All of a sudden, Regina is naked. "Please me," she says and crashes her lips onto Emma's._

_"Oh, Regina," Emma murmurs. The brunette pulls away._

_"Call me Professor Mills," she orders, her eyes dark with lust. Emma moans and runs her hands down her hot body. Regina's fingers find their way into Emma's pants, and Emma whimpers as the professor cups her heat._

_She's suddenly so close._

_"Professor Mills," Emma groans, needing more. Regina slides a finger slowly into her._

_"Oh Miss Swan, you're so deliciously wet," Regina moans and Emma is on the edge, just needing a little more..._

Emma jolts awake, sweating, pressing her thighs together hard, trying to relieve the aching between them. Emma's hand dips into her underwear and bites her lip at how wet she is. She fucks herself and comes in two minutes to the image of Regina naked from her dreams. 

"Jesus Christ," Emma mutters to herself. There's no way she's going to be able to get through her study session with Regina. 

She checks the clock to see that it's only 2 in the morning. She feels wide awake, so she grabs her computer in hopes of watching something on Netflix for a little while and then going back to sleep. Her inbox is still open from last night, and Emma is surprised to see another email from Regina. It was delivered only seven minutes after Emma had sent hers the night before. 

_Miss Swan,_

_I'm very happy to know that you have rethought your decision. Please try to be on time. And I know that you found my office on Wednesday, but just in case you've forgotten, it's in Mifflin Hall, room 108. I'll see you tomorrow._

_Professor Mills_

Emma rolls her eyes and closes the tab. She scrolls through Netflix and decides on watching _The Office_. Even though it's one of Emma's all time favorite shows, she still can't keep her mind from wandering to a certain brunette. 

She wakes up six hours later, her laptop still resting on her ribs. She groans and gets out of bed and stretches until she hears her bones cracking. She leaves her room to see Mary Margaret sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal. 

"Hey, Emma," her roommate says brightly. Emma lifts a hand up to acknowledge her. "Got any plans today?" 

Emma opens their fridge with a yawn. "I have tutoring at five, but I'm just going to try not knock some homework out until then. You?" She prepares herself for Mary Margaret to gush about all her perfect plans with David for the day. 

Mary Margaret shrugs. "Same, probably." 

"Um, what? No going on a romantic boat ride with David? No going on a picnic with him? What world did I fall into last night?" 

Mary Margaret laughs. "He and his sister actually went home this weekend. There was a family emergency, something with their dad, I think."

Emma frowns. She doesn't know David's sister Kathryn all that well, but she does know David. "That's awful. I hope everything's okay." 

"Yeah, me too." Mary Margaret fiddles with her necklace. "Did you say you were getting tutored? For what? Maybe I can help," she offers, changing the subject. Emma shakes her head and pours herself a glass of milk. She takes a long sip. 

"Physics. My professor is helping me out, but thanks." 

"Alright," her roommate says and goes to get dressed. Emma's phone vibrates and she sees it's a text from Ruby asking her where she is. _Shit_. Emma forgot that they had breakfast plans. She quickly downs the rest of the milk and puts the empty cup in the sink. 

"I'm going out!" she calls to Mary Margaret, and gets a muffled reply. She texts Ruby that she's on her way and starts running toward the campus cafe. 

She turns a corner and almost sprints straight into Regina Mills, who does not look happy at almost being run over by Emma. 


	4. Tutoring

"Always a pleasure, Miss Swan," Regina says dryly after Emma narrowly misses running her over. Emma laughs nervously and tries to smooth her hair down as she decided not to brush it. She notices that Regina looks amazing, as always.

"Hey, professor, sorry about that. I was in a hurry," Emma tries to explain. 

"Next time, be careful," she advises and walks past Emma, who's heart has no business beating this fast. 

When Emma gets to the cafe, Ruby yells her name and beckons her over. There's already a waitress by the table, and Emma smiles at her before ordering a hot chocolate and a bear claw. Ruby raises an eyebrow at her. 

"I completely forgot that we were supposed to have breakfast today and I just ran into Professor Mills. Almost literally," Emma says as to why she was late. 

Ruby smirks. "Professor Mills, eh?"

Emma blushes. "I have tutoring with her later, and I don't know what I'm going to do." She instantly regrets telling her that when Ruby gasps really loud and bounces in the booth. Emma rolls her eyes and checks around them to make sure no one is staring. 

"Oh my god, Emma, how on earth did you get Mills to tutor you? She turned everyone away last year saying that 'they need to figure it out on their own because it's not that hard'. She literally would not help anyone." At this, Emma turns an even darker shade of red. 

"She said that she never tutored anyone because they never asked. She offered to tutor me," Emma whispers. 

"Em, she's _so_ into you!" Ruby squeals and Emma winces at the volume. 

"No, she's not, she just doesn't want me to fail spectacularly. She knows I don't know anything and she's probably just taking pity on me," Emma says with a shrug, not even believing it herself. Ruby looks unconvinced. 

"Does she know the reason why you don't know anything is because you don't pay attention in the class due to the fact that you're too busy staring at her?" Ruby asks, baiting Emma, who nods sheepishly. Ruby gasps again. "So she knows that you're going to fail because you're staring at her ass the whole time and she still wants to tutor you? And you think it's because she's taking pity on you! Emma, god, you're so thickheaded sometimes! It's because she totally wants to fuck you!" 

Emma shakes her head vehemently because there has to be another reason why Regina would help her. Except she can't think of another reason why. The thought of Regina wanting to sleep with her makes her palms sweat. Emma wants nothing more than to tear Regina's clothes off and make her cry out Emma's name, but there's no way Regina would ever want that. Is there?

Jesus Christ. 

Ruby's grinning wolfishly at her and Emma takes a long sip of her hot chocolate to avoid looking at her friend. 

"What time is tutoring?" 

"5 pm," Emma answers automatically. 

"Well, I'll be anxiously waiting until tomorrow to hear the good news." 

Once breakfast is over, Ruby ditches her to go hang out with Dorothy, so Emma trudges back to her dorm room to watch Netflix. 

She binge watches _The Office_ until 4 in the afternoon, having only taken a short break to eat lunch. She turns on the shower and picks out an outfit for the tutoring session. She decides on a pair of tight jeans and a white blouse with three-quarter sleeves. 

Her shower is quick and she's soon dressed and brushing her hair. She puts on a little bit of eyeliner before checking herself out in the mirror. She looks good. 

She sits out in the living room, watching the clock, and tapping her foot on the ground. The moment the clock strikes 4:45, Emma's out of the room, heading toward Regina's office. Butterflies are in her stomach and Emma feels like she's eight again, working up the nerve to talk to her crush on the playground. 

At 5 sharp, Emma knocks on the door. 

"Enter!" Regina calls, so Emma pushes open the door and steps inside. Regina's sitting at her desk, wearing a dark purple dress and damn, she looks great. Emma takes a seat in the chair across from Regina and lays her hands on the table. 

"Thank you for taking the time to help me," Emma says, breaking the silence. 

"Of course. I'm only too happy to help." Emma bites her lip, knowing that this is untrue. "What do you want to start with, vectors or scalars?" 

Emma blinks at her. She didn't think Regina was going to seduce her or anything, but Emma had at least hoped that they'd chat a little before diving into physics. It's clear that Regina wants to get straight to the point. 

"Um, vectors," Emma chooses, and Regina takes out some pieces of paper and lays them in front of Emma. 

"I've drawn out some pictures that might help you understand them better. And then here's some practice problems we can try once you're feeling ready," Regina says, pointing at sections on the paper. Emma inwardly groans. She hates physics. 

An hour later, Emma is ready to be done. Regina hasn't steered off topic once, and Emma's head is starting to hurt from a hour straight of vectors and scalars. At least she somewhat understands them now. Maybe she'll actually be able to get one question right on the quiz in two days. 

"Do we need to stop?" Regina asks once she notices that Emma isn't listening to her anymore. "I have to give you some credit, I've been working you pretty hard for the past hour. I'm impressed you've made it this long." 

Emma has to kick herself before she can say _that's what she said._ She has a feeling Regina wouldn't appreciate that. 

"Can we just take a short break? I'm starting to feel pretty good about all this stuff and I think I should just try a few more problems," Emma suggests, and Regina nods. Emma relaxes back in her chair and Regina watches her. 

"I'm glad you decided to show up today, Miss Swan," Regina says. 

"Oh?" Emma replies carefully. 

"I've never had a student get every question wrong on all my tests and quizzes and I'd like to keep it that way. Plus everyone else in your class seems to be doing fine, so you getting zeroes on everything would really mess up the average." 

Emma frowns and Regina laughs. "So you're only helping me to make yourself look better as a teacher." Regina shrugs with a glint in her eye. "You know maybe if you didn't make your class impossibly hard, I wouldn't be getting zeroes on everything." She and Regina both know that's not why she's failing, but Emma's trying to keep the conversation light before she says something and embarrasses herself again. 

"Your other classmates don't think it's impossibly hard. I have a lot of people who have A's in my class," Regina protests. 

"That's because there's one grade in the grade book," Emma mutters and Regina smirks. "And, by the way, I told Ruby that you were helping me, and she said that a lot of people asked you to tutor them but you refused. You told me you never tutored anyone else because they never asked." 

Regina's quiet. "That was a long enough break, let's get back to work," she says a moment later, changing the subject back to physics. Emma sighs and turns her attention back to the problems on the paper. 

Thirty minutes later, Emma drops her pencil and slouches down into her chair. "My brain hurts," she whines and Regina looks amused. 

"You did well today, Miss Swan. Let's see what you can do with the quiz on Monday," Regina says, standing up in order to walk the blonde to the door. 

"Thank you again," Emma tells her while Regina holds the door open. 

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you later, Miss Swan," Regina husks, and leans in. Emma's breath quickens. Is she going to kiss her? Emma's eyes flutter shut as Regina's arm reaches around her and - 

\- turns off the light switch behind Emma. Regina pulls back and smiles teasingly at Emma, who's very flushed. 

"I'm leaving too," Regina says, winking knowingly at Emma before following her outside. Emma slows down and turns around to say something to her professor, but the woman has already walked away in a different direction. 

Emma strolls back to her dorm room, feeling strangely disappointed. 


	5. A rainy day

Sunday evening, Emma's walking back to her dorm room from all the way across campus when it starts pouring. Her jeans and a t-shirt are no match for the weather, so she sprints to the nearest place she can wait out the storm in: the campus convenience store. 

She's shivering and soaked to the bone as she wanders down the aisles in hopes of finding a jacket, or even an umbrella so she can make it back to her room and take a hot shower before she catches pneumonia. 

Unfortunately, the store has neither of them, and Emma's deciding whether or not to brave the rain when she hears someone say her name. She turns around, teeth chattering, to see Regina, with both a long coat and an umbrella. 

Emma stutters out a greeting and Regina shrugs off her jacket and hands it her. 

"Oh, I'm fine, Professor, thanks. I can just walk under your umbrella if you're heading my way," Emma says and Regina forces her to take the coat. 

"Nonsense. I will not let you get sick," Regina sniffs. Emma's gaze is questioning. Does Regina actually care about her? "You're already so behind in my class and you've been there everyday, imagine if you actually missed it." 

Emma's face falls and puts Regina's coat on. It smells like apples and cinnamon and she has to fight the urge to bury her nose in it. 

"Thank you," Emma says graciously, and Regina rolls her eyes. 

"Dear, it's just a coat. Just come about five minutes early to class tomorrow and give it back to me," Regina tells her and then walks out of the store and opens her umbrella. And then she's gone. 

Emma stands there for a few seconds, soaking in the scent of the jacket, before realizing that she's a total weirdo for doing so, and then runs as fast as she can back to her dorm. 

She carefully hangs Regina's coat in the closet to dry before going to peel off her wet clothes and get in the shower. She shudders in pleasure when the hot water quickly warms her up, and soon enough, she can start to feel her fingers again. 

Mary Margaret isn't in their living room, so Emma pops a hot pocket into the microwave and kicks back on the couch with the television on. She flicks through the channels, but turns it off in disappointment when there's nothing good on. 

After dinner, she checks to make sure all her homework's done for tomorrow and she pulls out the packet from yesterday's tutoring session with Regina. She's planning on practicing a few of the problems just to make sure she's ready for the quiz tomorrow, but can't stop her mind from drifting to Regina's almost-kiss yesterday. 

Emma had been so sure of what was about to happen, but of course, Regina was a complete tease and had known exactly what she was doing. She thinks of her wink before brushing past Emma, and Emma bites her lip. She is so sure that her professor is aware of the affect she has on Emma, but unless Regina didn't feel somewhat the same way, why would she be toying with her?

Emma groans and gets off the couch. She's going to drive herself insane if she keeps trying to justify what Regina's doing, so she flops into her bed and pulls the covers over her head until she falls asleep. 

The next morning, it's still raining, only not as hard as it was yesterday. Emma dresses more appropriately this time, in sweat pants, a rain coat, and rain boots. This is not her most flattering outfit, but at least she won't catch a cold. 

She takes Regina's coat out of the closest and happily finds that it is completely dry. She balls it up and shoves it under her jacket and heads downstairs to the main entrance. She takes a deep breath before pushing open the door and starting to run, but feels that it's only drizzling. She slows down to a walk, but still shows up to the classroom ten minutes early. 

She peers through the window on the door and sees that Regina is already inside, so Emma goes in. Regina jumps when the door closes, but still smiles at Emma, who holds her coat out. Regina takes it back and lays it on the edge of her desk. 

"I'm glad to see that you don't have the flu," Regina says and Emma chuckles. 

"Yeah, the doctors said that I'll live, thanks to your coat," Emma jokes back, but all she gets is a brief smile in return before Regina starts to rummage through her purse. Emma slightly rocks back and forth on her feet. It's clear that the professor isn't going to talk, so Emma's left scrambling for something to say. "Um, I feel pretty good about today's quiz," she finally decides on saying. 

"Well, I would hope so. I like to think I'm a pretty good teacher so you better at least get higher than a C." 

"You _are_ a pretty good teacher, but you're not a miracle worker," Emma quips, and Regina rolls her eyes, but Emma can see she's amused. 

Regina suddenly leans forward on her hands so her face is only a few hairs away from Emma's, and Emma forgets how to breathe. 

"I expect nothing less than a C, Miss Swan," she whispers. It's an innocent sentence, but god, the way she said it does all sorts of things to Emma, who's heart is racing and she can feel herself becoming extremely turned on. Regina's eyes glance down to her lips before pulling back and straightening out her shirt. "Class is about to start, you should take a seat." 

Emma nods and lets out a shaky breath. She can't help but wonder what would've happened if class _hadn't_ been about to start. 

Once everyone's in their seats, Regina starts to pass out the quizzes. When she gets to Emma, Regina pauses and meets Emma's green eyes. 

"Good luck, Miss Swan" she purrs quietly, and Emma's heart almost stops. Regina has a way of making normal sentences sound filthy and hot, and Emma loves it. She just wishes Regina would consider not doing it before Emma has to take a quiz because she's now finding it very hard to concentrate on the paper and not on her growing arousal. 

Emma forces all thoughts of her sexy professor out of her mind and scans the quiz. She almost cries out in relief; she actually knows most of this stuff. She finishes it with two minutes left, and when Regina comes by to collect it, Emma holds her gaze confidently. Regina arches an eyebrow in a silent question, and Emma gives her a thumbs up. Regina seems pleased with this and goes to grade them, giving everyone the rest of the period to do whatever they want. 

Emma's on her phone playing Candy Crush when someone taps the table to get her attention. She reluctantly looks up to find a boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes. Emma has to admit he's somewhat good looking, in a kind of puppy dog way. 

"Hi, I'm Graham," he says with a Scottish accent. Emma smiles tightly at him and waves to the seat next to her. He sits down and fiddles nervously with his hands. Emma wonders if this is what she looks like when she's talking to Regina. "I wanted to know if you were doing anything tonight."

Regina practically slams her graded quiz on the table between them and Emma is so startled that she almost has a heart attack. The professor shoots a glare at Graham before walking over to someone else with their quiz. Emma looks at her paper and grins widely when she sees the B+ on the top of the paper. 

Graham coughs and Emma turns back to him. "Right, sorry. Tonight. I'm probably just doing homework," Emma says for lack of a better excuse. She could say she'd be partying, but then that would invite far too many follow up questions. 

"Do you have a lot? Of homework, I mean," Graham asks. Emma shrugs. She guesses she wouldn't mind going on a date with Graham, he seems nice enough. But just as Graham opens his mouth, Regina comes back over with his quiz. 

"Class dismissed," she interrupts. "Miss Swan, I need to speak with you." Regina heads back to her desk before Emma can protest. 

Graham's look is apologetic. "You've had to stay after every single class, that really sucks," he says, and Emma can tell he genuinely means that. 

"Oh, it's not that bad. I don't mind it that much." 

Graham awkwardly smiles. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, Emma." He gives her a wave and then leaves the classroom. Emma walks over to Regina's desk, not sure what this is about. She did well on the quiz, so there's really no reason for her to stay and talk with her. 

Regina looks at her for a second and Emma scratches her face just to have something to do. It always makes her slightly uncomfortable when Regina just stares at her without saying anything. 

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm proud of you," Regina says finally, pointing to the quiz that Emma's still holding in her hand. 

"Well, I did have a pretty good teacher helping me," Emma teases, repeating her words from earlier. Regina actually smiles at this. "Thank you again. Without you, I definitely would've failed this. And then your class average would've still been screwed up." 

Regina bites her lip. It looks like she's debating whether to say something else or not, but decides not to. Emma doesn't know if she should just leave, but then Regina packs up her purse and slings it over her shoulder. Emma follows her out of the room and down the hallway. Regina opens the door to the outside, and they both see that it's pouring again. 

"Seriously?" Emma exclaims. She's once again on the complete other side of campus from her dorm. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra umbrella, would you?" she asks Regina, who shakes her head. 

"Just come with me," she says and starts to walk under cover in the wrong direction of Emma's dorm. 

"Where are we going?" Emma has to jog to catch up to her professor. 

"I'm taking you to a restaurant where we can eat and stay dry while we wait for the rain to stop. When's your next class?" It takes a moment for the question to register in Emma's brain because she's so focused on that first sentence. Regina's taking her out?

"Oh, um, it's after noon." It's only 9:15 right now, so there's plenty of time. For Regina to take her out. 

Emma can't believe this is actually happening right now. 


	6. Breakfast at iHop

Much to Emma's surprise, Regina leads her to the faculty parking lot and then starts running toward a black Mercedes. Emma follows after her, the rain soaking every inch of her body. She throws open the passenger door and slides into the seat, shivering. Regina turns on Emma's heated seat for her and Emma smiles gratefully. 

"I thought we were just going to the cafe or something on campus," Emma remarks when Regina turns out of the university. Regina shrugs. "So then, where are we going? Are you kidnapping me?" she jokes. Regina glances at her with an eyebrow raised.

"There's an iHop about three minutes away. I figured we'd go there," Regina says and Emma wonders if it's so people on campus don't see them eating together. Does that mean this is a date? There'd be no reason to leave the college if they weren't doing anything wrong, would there?

By the time Regina pulls into a parking spot at the iHop, the rain has slowed down, and they're able to make it to the door without getting too wet. 

"Table for two, please," Regina says to the hostess. They're immediately brought to a small table by the window and a waitress hands them menus. Emma doesn't even have to look at hers. iHop is her favorite breakfast restaurant. 

Regina orders a black coffee to drink and Emma asks for hot chocolate. She can almost feel Regina rolling her eyes when Emma asks for extra whipped cream. When the waitress leaves with their beverage orders, Emma unwraps her silverware and places her napkin on her lap. 

"So, how are you liking sophomore year?" Regina asks when Emma doesn't say anything for awhile. 

"It's fine. I have a lot of reading due for English and my physics class is really hard. Plus, the teacher is really strict," Emma says and she can see a hint of a smile on Regina's face. "But I did do pretty well on my quiz today, so I think that my professor should be really proud of me." 

"I'm sure she is really proud that you were able to stop staring at someone for a second and actually focus on physics," Regina teases, and it feels almost like flirting. God, Emma loves this. 

"Yeah, you're right. It is super hard to stop staring at that kid who sits in the front of the room, the one who always wears those crazy hats," Emma replies and this time, Regina laughs, and Emma never wants to stop making her laugh. 

"You got me there, Miss Swan." 

The waitress brings over their drinks and Emma's delighted to see that there might be more whipped cream than there is hot chocolate. Regina scoffs in disgust and Emma lifts the mug and takes a long sip. When she lowers the drink, Regina smiles amusedly. 

"What?" Emma asks defensively. 

"You've got whipped cream on your nose," Regina explains. Before Emma can get it off, Regina leans over and swipes it off with her pointer finger. She licks the whipped cream off her finger and Emma has to fight the urge to moan. "All better," Regina hums. 

Emma shakily laughs and picks up the menu to hide her red face. 

"Are you both ready to order?" the waitress asks, standing at their table with a notepad. 

"Can I please have the 2x2x2 combo with scrambled eggs and bacon?" Emma says and the waitress writes it down with a nod. Regina orders silver dollar pancakes and a side of fruit, and the waitress is gone. 

"So, I noticed you and Mr Humbert talking earlier," Regina says and it takes Emma a moment to realize that she's talking about Graham. Is she jealous?

"Yeah, he seems really nice." Emma watches Regina's face carefully, but Regina is very good at masking her emotions - if she feels any way about this, that is. Regina could just be trying to make small talk. 

Regina shrugs. "He doesn't talk much in my class so I can't say anything about him. Do you have any other classes with him?" Emma can tell she's definitely jealous now, she's just trying to pretend that she's not by acting curious. 

"No. He's in the grade below me. Most people take Physics 101 as a freshman to get the credits out of the way, but not me. I waited until sophomore year and now I know no one in the class," Emma tells her. 

"Why did you wait?" She sounds genuinely interested. Because she's interested in Emma? Or because she's just a student and it's her job to care about students?

"There wasn't really a reason. There were just other courses that I wanted to take as a freshman to see if I'd be into them and maybe want to do something with them. I know for a fact I don't want to do anything science related, least of all physics, so I decided to just put it off." 

Regina gasps and raises an eyebrow. "Nothing science related? At all? Least of all physics? Why, Miss Swan, I'm hurt." 

Emma laughs. "You've seen me in physics. It's probably better for everyone if I don't major in it. And, you can't be that surprised. After all, you know that I'd fail everything if you hadn't helped me out."

"Well, maybe it'd help if, what was it you said last week? If your professor wasn't so hot?" Regina's looking at her amusedly and Emma can only gape at her. Regina's flirting with her, right? Maybe she's just going crazy. "That was a joke, dear," Regina says when Emma's still staring at her a minute later. 

"Oh, right," Emma says, blushing furiously. "So, why did you become a teacher?" Emma quickly changes the subject. 

"I wanted to share my love for physics with the world," Regina says and Emma purses her lips and gives her a look. "Alright, it's just something that I've always wanted to do. My mother is a politician and ever since I was a little kid, I knew that I didn't want to do that. I wanted to help people. So I figured that educating today's youth would do that. You guys are the future, and all that. Plus, my ex-boyfriend worked here and he's the one who recommended me, so technically he's the reason I got the job. He loved teaching and he's really the one who inspired me to teach." She sounds wistful, and Emma can't help but wonder if she's not over her ex. 

"What happened? With your ex, I mean. You don't have to tell me, if that's personal. I also understand if you also just don't want to tell me. I am just a student, after all," Emma rambles and Regina reaches over and places her hand on Emma's hand. Emma feels a spark and looks up in shock, but if Regina felt it too, she surely doesn't show it. 

"You're much more than that, Miss Swan," she mumbles so quietly that Emma almost doesn't hear her. She wants to ask what she means by that, but before she gets a chance, the waitress brings over a tray with their food. Even though Emma is starving, she's still a little ticked that the moment she was having with Regina is over. 

They don't talk at all while they're eating, and only seconds after they've finished, the waitress brings the check. Emma reaches for her wallet but Regina holds out a hand to stop her. She takes out a credit card and hands it to the waitress. 

"But -" Emma protests. 

"Nonsense, Miss Swan. I asked you to breakfast, therefore, I'll pay." So this is a date then? Or Regina just knows that college students are broke and she's taking pity on her. God, Emma just wishes she knew what everything meant! 

"Thank you," Emma says gratefully, and she means it. Whether this is a real date or just a friendly breakfast, she really appreciates it and she loves spending time with Regina. Which is not good at all. Because Regina is her professor. "Maybe I can pay you back sometime with dinner?" And fuck, what did she just do? She should not have done that. 

"I'd like that," Regina says with a smile, and Emma takes it back. That was the best thing she's ever done in her entire life. 

The waitress brings Regina her card back and they stand up and walk out of iHop and back to Regina's car. It's a short ride back to campus, and the morning is over too soon. 

"Thank you again. I guess I'll see you on Wednesday?" Emma says, shifting from one foot to another once they're standing by campus buildings, about to go their separate ways. Emma hopes that Regina will offer to tutor her between now and Wednesday, but they haven't learned any new material so Regina would have no reason to do that. 

"I'll see you later, Miss Swan," Regina replies and smiles, before walking away from Emma, who smiles back at her. Regina doesn't see it and Emma sighs. She checks her watch and she still has about an hour and a half until her next class. She pulls out her phone to call Ruby. 

She has a lot to tell her. 


	7. Theory of the Multiverse

On Tuesday night, Emma forgets to plus her phone in, so consequently, her alarm doesn't go off the next morning. 

It's 8:20 by the time she rolls over and looks at the clock. 

"Oh, fuck," she mumbles and grabs shoes. She doesn't have time to change, even though she's in spandex and a tank top. She's out the door and then she decides that she better bring a jacket. 

She sprints across campus and right at 8:30, she throws open the door and slides into a chair. Someone moves and sits next to her, and with a groan, Emma sees that it's Graham. She thinks he's nice, but if yesterday with Regina was a date, she has no interest in going out with him. 

Regina gets up to start the class and she pauses for a moment to glare at Emma and Graham. Emma bites her lip and Regina turns to the whiteboard. 

"We're starting our unit on Laws and Theories. This lesson, combined with scalars and vectors, will all be on your first test next Friday." Then, Regina launches into a lesson about Newton's laws of gravity, and Emma tries to pay attention - she _really_ tries - but it's so hard to not stare at how amazing Regina's body looks in her gray pencil skirt and the dark green blouse. 

Forty minutes later, Emma hasn't heard a thing Regina said all class, and fuck, she's right back to knowing nothing. With her luck, there'll be a pop quiz on Friday. 

"So, are you doing anything tonight?" Graham whispers to Emma and Regina stops talking. 

"Something you'd like to share with the class, Mr Humbert?" Regina says loudly and Graham shakes his head while Emma slouches further into her seat when Regina's eyes flit to hers. Emma can feel her cheeks burning up. 

"As I was saying, a professor from Harvard University is coming to campus tonight to give a lecture about the Theory of the Multiverse. I cannot order you to attend, nor can I offer you extra credit if you show up, but I think it'll be a really interesting lecture to go to. I hope to see you all there. You can talk to me for more information after class," Regina says and Emma sits up straighter. Regina will be there and Emma will get out of a date with Graham. This is perfect. 

"I think I might go to that," Emma says to Graham once Regina dismisses them. Graham frowns. 

"Really? Um, I can come too. You know, with you?" 

Well so much for that working out. Now Graham will be there and Regina will most definitely not talk to her. Unless she's not jealous, of course. 

"Ah, Miss Swan, I'm so glad to know that you're thinking about going," Regina says when Emma and Graham stop in front of her desk. "And Mr Humbert," Regina sighs and reaches into her desk to pull out two fliers. The lecture starts at 5 tonight and should only last about an hour and a half. "I'll see you guys there," Regina says, and her voice is clipped. She walks past Emma, her arm brushing against Emma's arm. 

"Here, let me give you my number. I can pick up at 4:45," Graham offers and Emma reluctantly hands him her phone. She was really hoping that she'd go all alone and Regina would ask if she wanted to sit together. 

"I'll see you later," Emma says and leaves the room once she gets her phone back. She feels a little bad about not walking out with him, but she's not really interested in him. 

***

It's 4 pm when Emma decides to take a shower. She's been trying to choose what to wear for the past thirty minutes and she still hasn't been able to pick out an outfit. She closes her eyes under the warm water and lets her mind run to Regina. 

She's about to slip a hand between her legs to relieve the ache she feels when she hears the dorm room door open. Mary Margaret must be back from her afternoon class. Emma groans and gets out of the shower, almost painfully turned on. 

She steps in front of her closet and decides on a blue sweater and jeans. She stands in front of the mirror and nods to herself. This is the outfit. 

About thirty minutes later, there's a knock on her door. She opens it and finds Graham in jeans and a Storybrooke University sweatshirt. _At least he tried to look nice,_ Emma thinks sarcastically. 

"You look great," Graham says, sounding a little breathless, and Emma almost rolls her eyes. Graham has a schoolgirl's crush on her and Emma only has eyes for the teacher. This is great. "I was thinking we could grab a drink or something beforehand."

"I'm not twenty one yet. And the lecture starts in twenty minutes, so we should probably just go get seats," Emma says. Of course, being only twenty hasn't stopped her before, but she doesn't want to get a drink with Graham. Now, if Regina asked her to get a drink with her...

"Right. Sounds good," Graham replies sullenly. 

The walk across campus is awkward at best. Graham keeps trying to make small talk and Emma keeps answering in monosyllables. She knows she should at least try to get to know Graham, but she's just not into him. 

"Wow, it's pretty crowded," Graham remarks when they get there. Emma nods in agreement. The auditorium is packed. Who knew this many people cared about the Theory of the Multiverse? The only reason she's here is for Regina. 

Emma scans the room, only to find disappointment. She doesn't see Regina. Maybe she decided not to come. Was it because Graham was coming? _No, that's ridiculous_. 

"There's some seats," Graham announces and grabs her hand to lead her to them. She wants to yank her hand away, but doesn't. Regina's not here, but Graham is. She should at least give him a chance. 

The lecture begins, and Emma finds herself very interested. The Harvard professor is explaining the Theory of the Multiverse, and Emma might actually believe in it. Or, at least she thinks the idea that there are an infinite number of parallel universes is very cool. 

She tries to imagine Emma Swan on a different earth. Maybe she's actually into physics. Maybe she's married to a super wealthy person. Maybe there's an earth where she and Regina are together. The possibilities are endless, and by the end of the lecture, Emma is so engrossed in it that she doesn't even notice the fact that Graham slipped an arm around the back of her chair awhile ago. She barely even notices it when Graham taps his hand on her leg. 

"Emma, it's over," Graham whispers in her ear, and she blinks for a second before realizing that people are getting out of their chairs and leaving. 

"Oh." Emma stands up. "That was actually really cool." 

Graham shrugs. "I think it's kind of a stupid theory. Sure, there might be aliens out there, but parallel universes? I'm pretty sure that's just a thing in The Flash." Emma rolls her eyes as she follows Graham out of the aisle and down to the exit doors. Her heart skips a beat when she sees Regina leaning against the wall by the doors. 

"Hey, Professor Mills," Graham greets, slinging an arm around Emma's shoulders. Emma tries not to wince. She doesn't want Graham's hands all over her, especially not in front of Regina. 

"Mr Humbert. Miss Swan. What did you two think about the lecture?" Regina asks, her voice sounding almost cold. 

"I kind of zoned out halfway through," Graham answers with a laugh. Regina turns to Emma. 

"I actually really liked it. I think the theory is really cool, and I mean, it's not totally crazy. He talked about the Mandela Effect too, and I think he made some really strong points," Emma says, and Regina looks very impressed. 

"You're a nerd," Graham jokes and presses a kiss to her head. Emma stiffens and steps away. "What?" 

"Graham, I think you're sweet, but I really don't think that it's going to happen between us," Emma tells him, glancing at Regina for a second. She's watching them carefully. Graham nods, but Emma can see that he's hurt. 

"Yeah, alright. That's cool," Graham finally replies and storms out of the building. Regina steps closer and gently touches Emma's arm. Emma looks at her. 

"I missed the first fifteen minutes of the lecture. Would you like to go somewhere and you can fill me in? There's a bar a few minutes away from campus. It'd be such a shame to let such a nice outfit go to waste," Regina says, lightly running a finger up Emma's arm. Emma shivers and she's thankful that Regina didn't ask about Graham. That would really put a damper on how Emma's feeling right now. 

"That sounds great," Emma says, trying to not sound too enthusiastic, so they start walking toward the parking lot. "Also, I thought you believed that if you were running late, there'd be no point in coming at all." 

Regina laughs and unlocks her car. Emma gets into the passenger seat. 

"I was helping someone with something and I completely lost track of time. I guess we're even now," Regina jokes. 

"Your boyfriend?" Emma guesses, hoping that she's wrong. 

Regina shakes her head. "My sister." Emma exhales slowly. 

Five minutes later, Regina parks the car in a parking lot of a bar and they get out. They find a table in the back and Regina orders a glass of red wine, grilled chicken sandwich, and a side salad. Emma orders a coke, chicken tenders, and french fries. 

"Are you not twenty one yet?" Regina asks in surprise when Emma doesn't order alcohol. 

"Nope, I turn twenty one in the summer. I had a feeling you wouldn't be too keen about underage drinking," Emma answers. 

"Well, now I feel bad. I probably shouldn't be drinking in front a student." 

Emma scoffs. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It'll be our secret," she says with a wink and Regina laughs again. "Wow, that's twice you've laughed tonight, are you okay?" Regina rolls her eyes and throws her straw wrapper at Emma. Emma gasps loudly and throws it back at her. 

Emma's just thinking about how right this feels when a man comes over to their table. 

"Regina?" he says in wonder. He talks in a British accent and he has dark blonde hair and green eyes. Emma doesn't think that he's attractive at all. How does he know Regina? 

"Robin, I had no idea that you'd be here!" Regina says and the man leans down to kiss her cheek. Emma feels a flash of jealously. Maybe he's just her brother or a friend. A kiss on the cheek means nothing. "Emma, this is my boyfriend, Robin. Robin, this is one of my students, Emma." 

And Emma's heart drops. 


	8. Jealousy

Emma forces herself to shake Robin's outstretched hand. Is this how Regina felt when she saw Emma and Graham? Obviously not, because Regina's has had a boyfriend all along. 

"Yeah, I'm here with a couple of guys. I told you that I was having dinner at a bar tonight," Robin says to Regina, basically ignoring Emma. 

"You did," Regina concedes. "But I had no idea you'd be here." Does Emma detect a hint on anger in Regina's voice? Is she mad that her boyfriend is here interrupting when she's out with Emma? Or is she afraid Robin will think she's cheating on him? 

"They do have the best whiskey here. Oh, gotta go, Gina. The boys are calling me," Robin says when people on the other side of the bar shout his name. He gives her another kiss on the cheek and then he's gone. 

"Your boyfriend, hmm?" Emma asks, trying not to sound jealous. "How long have you been together?" 

Regina's about to answer when the waitress comes over with their food. Emma doesn't start eating, she just stares expectantly at Regina. The professor takes off the top piece of bread and removes two dill pickles and then looks up. 

"We've been dating for about two months. He's really nice and sweet," Regina says and Emma clenches her fists under the table. She can be nice and sweet. The entire population can be nice and sweet. What's so special about Robin?

"I'm sure he is," Emma mutters and picks up a chicken tender and bites into it before she can say anything else. Regina regards her curiously before starting to eat her own dinner. 

Regina pays for Emma again, despite all of Emma's protests. 

"You said that I could pay you back with dinner, so why didn't you let me pay?" Emma says and Regina smirks. 

"If you want to pay me back with dinner, you need to ask me to dinner. I've taken you to breakfast and dinner, therefore, I'm paying. So once you take me out to dinner, then I'll let you pay," Regina tells her and Emma's jaw almost drops. Is she telling Emma to ask her out? On a date? And Regina's counting breakfast and dinner as dates, right? God, why can't she just say what she means! 

"Right." 

They leave the bar and get into Regina's car and Emma's phone starts to vibrate. It's a call from Ruby. She looks up at Regina, who nods. 

"Hello?" Emma says. 

"Oh, hey, Em. So you know how I promised Killian that I'd set him up on a date with you?" Emma nods, then realizes Ruby can't see her. "Yeah, so um, so he wants to take you out tomorrow. He said he'll be by your dorm to pick you up around 6. And he also said that there's no way you can cancel on him."

"Wonderful," Emma says sarcastically. "I'll see him tomorrow, I guess." She hangs up and drops her head against the seat. 

"Everything okay?" Regina asks.

"Yup. I guess I have a date tomorrow," Emma tells her. Regina doesn't say anything, but Emma swears that Regina's clenching the steering wheel now. When they get back to campus, they get out of Regina's car and stand in front of it, looking at each other. "Thank you for tonight," Emma whispers. She's suddenly too close to Regina and she needs to run away before she does something stupid, like try to kiss her. 

"Goodnight, Emma," Regina says and leans in. Emma holds her breath. Regina's lips are a hair away from Emma's cheek when she suddenly pulls back, like she's just remembered what she's doing. Emma tries not to look disappointed, and smiles. 

"Goodnight." It takes all of Emma's willpower to turn around and walk away from Regina, but she knows it's the right thing to do. Regina has a boyfriend and Emma's her student. There's no way they can ever be together, and Emma needs to get it out of her head. Regina was right not to kiss her, even if it was just going to be on the cheek, even if Emma wishes she could pin Regina against a wall and kiss her senseless. 

When she gets back to her dorm, it's not even 9 o'clock yet. So she falls onto her bed and imagines a parallel earth where Regina isn't her professor, a world where Regina doesn't have a boyfriend, a universe where Emma actually has a chance with her. 

***

It's 11 o'clock when Emma wakes up the next day. Thankfully, it's Thursday, which means she doesn't have class until one pm. She groans and rolls out of bed, feeling strangely empty. 

"Maybe it's because Regina has a boyfriend and you have absolutely no chance with her," Emma says to herself out loud. And now she has a date with a guy who she completely loathes with every fiber of her being. 

She peels off her clothes and steps into the shower. She tries to block Regina out of her mind, but that's an impossible thing to do, so that's how Emma ends up touching herself to fantasies of Regina bending her over her desk and fucking her in the classroom. She comes with a moan when she imagines Regina kissing her while thrusting her fingers up just right. 

Fuck, she is so screwed. 

***

It's 6 o'clock exactly when Killian knocks on her door. She lets him in, despite how repulsive she finds him in his leather jacket and pants. She swears to god that he's wearing eyeliner right now. Emma, meanwhile, is in jeans and a t-shirt. 

"Shall we, love?" he says and she wants to throw him off a cliff. 

"Let's get this over with. And, one thing? Call me love again and I will make sure you're not able to ever have children," she hisses, but Killian just chuckles. 

"I like them feisty," he remarks and Emma glares at him. He offers her his hand, and she refuses to take it. He just shrugs and walks out of the room, and Emma's left to follow him. _This is for Ruby. This is for your best friend,_ Emma repeats in her head so she doesn't just turn around and run away from him. 

Killian leads her to his car and it's a shiny, black corvette. Emma knows that Killian's family is loaded, so of course Killian would drive a sports car. 

He takes her to a bar off campus, and it's not anywhere as near as nice to the one Regina took her to last night. Which makes sense; Regina has a lot more class than Killian. They go inside and Emma's nose wrinkles in disgust at the smell of stale beer. The music is loud with people dancing and there's pieces of tape on the floor, which Emma assumes marks the end of the dance floor. 

They find a table and Emma opens a menu. All of the drinks are cheap, which means they're definitely not good. The only food that they offer is a burger, chicken fingers, and a flatbread pizza. Emma chooses the burger and opts for a sprite to drink. Killian gets chicken fingers and a coke with rum.

Emma looks around the bar just to avoid having to talk to Killian when she sees Regina with Robin sitting across the restaurant. Emma almost falls out of her chair. Of course she would run into Regina and her boyfriend. The universe is cruel to Emma Swan, and just to prove it, Regina turns her head and meets Emma's gaze. Regina's eyes widen and Emma quickly turns back to Killian. 

"Do you want to dance while we wait for the food?" Killian asks, and it's the worst idea Emma's ever heard. But she needs her mind to be taken off Regina, so she figures that she might as well use Killian to help. 

"Sure," Emma agrees, and then he's leading her to the dance floor. He's practically dry humping her, but Emma can't find it in her to care. Maybe it'll make Regina jealous. The thought spurs her on and she starts to enthusiastically dance up on Killian.

She meets Regina's eyes over Killian's shoulder, and Emma takes delight in seeing that Regina's face is flushed red. Emma smirks a little and Regina turns and presses her mouth against Robin's. And just like that, Regina has won. 

Emma pushes Killian out of her way and she storms outside, the cold air like a slap in the face. The door opens a few minutes later and Emma knows who it is before she sees her. 

"You do know that you and him are in public, right?" Regina spits out angrily. "Maybe you should have some consideration for other people before grinding on each other in a bar." Emma whirls around. 

"Oh, really? Like you weren't just making out with your boyfriend Robin in there. And, why do you care what I do? Are you jealous?" Emma snaps. Regina steps closer to her and Emma half expects her to slap Emma's face. 

And then Regina does something that Emma never in a million years could've imagined. 

Regina grabs her t-shirt, pulls her closer, and kisses her. 


	9. Texting

It takes a second for Emma's brain to register what's happening, and Regina's already pulling away, because fuck, Emma didn't kiss her back. Emma can see fear in Regina's eyes, but before the professor can say anything, Emma's hand tangles in Regina's hair and pulls her mouth to Emma's. 

The kiss is hot and full of lust, and Emma has never felt like this before. She backs Regina up against she hits the wall and then Emma's mapping out a trail on Regina's neck with her tongue. Regina's moaning and Emma's hand inches under her shirt - 

\- and the door opens and they spring apart. It's Killian and he's peering at them.

"Swan, the food's here. Everything okay, love?" he asks when he sees Emma out of breath and takes in Regina's disheveled hair. "Professor Mills?" 

Emma fumbles with her wallet and hands Killian a twenty dollar bill. "For the food," she says and she pushes it into his hand. Killian looks down at the money and then back up to Emma, who's inwardly groaning.

"You owed me a date," Killian says. "This wasn't a date, you can't just leave now."

Emma nods to the cash. "We went out, ordered food, and paid. That was our date. And I'm sorry to say, but I don't think we should go on another one." She's being blunt, but she's so close to punching him if he doesn't leave her and Regina alone. 

"But we didn't even eat, love!" he protests. 

"What did I say about calling me love?" Emma growls. 

"Mr Jones, I think that Miss Swan is making herself very clear here," Regina says and Killian turns to face her. "I suggest that you take the money, finish your meal, and leave her alone." For a second, Emma thinks a fight is going to break out. But then Killian deflates and gives Emma a half smile before going back into the bar. 

Emma bites her lip nervously and looks at Regina. "I should probably go back inside. Robin will be wondering where I went," Regina tells her, and it's like a bucket of cold water has been dumped on Emma. _Robin._

"Oh, right. Your boyfriend," Emma says bitterly and Regina runs her hand through Emma's hair. 

"I'm going to break it off between us. That's the whole reason why I brought him here actually. And then I kissed him in the middle of dinner. That was not a good idea," Regina reflects and Emma laughs. 

"You were going to break up with him? Why?"

Regina raises an eyebrow at her. "I think that's quite obvious now, Miss Swan." Regina takes out her phone and gives it to Emma. "Give me your number. I'll text you later." Emma punches in her number and hands the phone back to Regina. She really doesn't want her professor to leave. "I'll see you later, Emma," Regina whispers and brushes her lips against Emma's one last time before entering into the bar. 

Emma grins to herself and pumps her fist. She cannot believe what just happened. 

And now that she left Killian, she has no other choice but to walk back to campus. It's a lonely fifteen minutes walk back to her dorm room, but when she finally collapses on her bed with a smile still on her face, she sees that someone has texted her. 

_It's me_ is all that is says, but Emma knows that it's Regina. 

_Hey_ Emma responds nervously. 

_Did you get home alright? I realized that you didn't have a ride and I wanted to come offer you one but I wasn't sure that I could keep my hands to myself. Plus, Robin wanted to talk about why I was breaking up with him, so I literally just got to my car._

Emma swallows roughly and decides to ignore the part about the car ride home. God knows Regina can be a tease. _Yes, I just got back to my dorm. How'd the break up go? I'm guessing he was trying to convince you to stay?_

_He didn't understand why I was doing it. And since I couldn't tell him that I was more interested in one of my students than him, I just said that I wasn't happy. And then he told me he had cheated on me with my sister. I'm not sure if he was serious or not, but I will never get those images out of my head._

Emma whistles lowly. Chances are, Robin was just saying that, but dang. _Ouch. I really hope he was just saying that. At least you don't seem too bothered by it._

_I'm not. I don't know why I was even with him in the first place. I felt nothing toward him compared to the way I feel about you._

Emma's breath hitches. _And how do you feel about me?_

Her phone starts vibrating and she jumps. Regina's calling her. Emma's heart is racing as she picks up. 

"I feel like I want to pin you against a wall and shove my hand in your pants and have my way with you," Regina says, her voice dark and full of seduction. Emma shivers. No one has ever had anywhere near the affect that Regina has on her. 

"I'd like that very much," Emma admits and she can almost hear Regina smirking through the phone. "Although, could you maybe go into more detail about what you would do?" she asks innocently. 

"Goodnight, Miss Swan," Regina says and hangs up. Emma almost throws her phone at the wall. She is so fucking turned on right now and she has a feeling that Regina knows that. 

_That was cruel_ Emma texts her. Three dots pop up and then they disappear. Emma groans and decides to change into her pajamas. It's still pretty early, but if Regina isn't going to talk to her, then she might as well just go to sleep and try to not think about the wetness between her thighs. 

When she gets back in bed, she sees that Regina actually texted her back. 

_Miss Swan, that wasn't cruel. What would be cruel, however, would be telling you exactly what I wanted to do to you in explicit detail, like how I want to bend you over a desk and fuck you to the edge and then make you come in my mouth. It'd be cruel for me to tell you that I just got home and I'm in the bath, naked, thinking of you. It'd be cruel for me to tell you about all my fantasies that I've had about you ever since you strutted into my class late on the first day. It'd be cruel for me to tell you that I've dreamed of fucking you in my office, with you calling me Professor Mills. That would be cruel, my dear._

Emma's hand is now stroking her wet folds, and she's breathing hard. _You're right, that would be cruel._

Regina's typing back and Emma bites her lip. _Would it also be cruel for me to tell you that the thought of you turns me on so much? In fact, right now, I'm sure that if I weren't in the bath I would be dripping just for you._

Emma groans loudly and she prays to god that Mary Margaret in not in the dorm room. 

_Holy fuck, Professor._ This is the hottest thing that's ever happened to her. 

_Are you as turned on as I am?_

_You know that I am._ Emma's rubbing her clit, picturing Regina and her in a bath tub together, fucking each other. She's so close. 

_I'd send you a picture of me right now, but that would just be cruel, now wouldn't it, Miss Swan?_

_Not at all._

_You're just going to have to wait to see me naked, dear. Now, you should finish touching yourself quickly and get to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 8:30 in class._ _Wear whatever you want - you look so fuckable in everything._

Emma comes with a moan and she lies on the bed gasping. Regina will most definitely be the death of her. 


	10. Lesson learned

Emma strolls into class five minutes late in tight leggings and a tank top. Regina closes her eyes when she opens them, Emma can see that they're filled with lust. Looks like the outfit worked as planned. And Regina looks great as always, wearing a blue dress with a black belt today. 

"Miss Swan, you're late. I really thought that you had learned your lesson. Now sit down. I'll deal with you after class." A thrill runs down Emma's spine at Regina's words. She can't wait to learn how Regina plans on dealing with her. "Now, there will be a quiz on Newton's laws at the end of the period, but before you all start freaking out, you have thirty minutes to study and collaborate with your peers. Well, now it's only twenty five minutes because Miss Swan decided she had more important things to be doing." The entire class turns to glare at Emma and her cheeks heat up. 

Regina smirks at her and leans back in her chair. Emma opens up a Quizlet set that she made two days ago because she was expecting a pop quiz. Of course, all the information is taken off Google because she was too busy ogling her professor last class to actually pay attention. 

She's flipping through the flashcards when she gets a text from Regina. _You look good enough to eat._

Emma's head snaps up to Regina, who's going through papers on her desk. However, Emma can see that she's holding her phone under her desk with one hand. Regina is sneaky, Emma has to give her that. 

_I really need to study for this. I wasn't really listening last class so..._

Emma closes out of Messages and opens Quizlet back up. 

_I'm not surprised, dear. I could feel your eyes on my body the entire time. I love the way you look at me, love the way you make me feel. And don't worry about the grade, if you fuck me well enough, I'm sure I can help you out._

Emma chokes and starts coughing. Regina looks up, pretending to be surprised. _Are you serious?_

_Of course not, Miss Swan. I don't care if we get married, I'm not giving you extra credit just because we're in a relationship. And that better not be the reason why you're interested in me._

This really isn't the best place or time to be discussing this, but Emma needs to make sure that Regina knows that Emma's not trying to use her for a grade. _It's definitely not that. It's probably just because you're so fucking hot and insanely smart and everything you do turns me on._

Regina looks pleased and looks up to meet Emma's eyes for a second before typing back a reply. _That's good to know. And everything I do? Does it turn you on knowing that I'm not wearing underwear right now?_

Emma groans and drops her phone on the table with a clang. Everyone turns to look at her but Regina just looks amused. Emma mutters an apology and picks her phone back up. Her heart is racing and all thoughts of studying for the quiz are out the window.

 _Oh my god seriously?_ If she says yes, there's no way that Emma will ever be able to concentrate in this class again. 

_Do you really think I'd risk soaking through my dress because of you? I am wearing underwear, but dear, I do love messing with you._

Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She checks her watch. There's still ten minutes left in study time. Should she study, or should she indulge Regina?

_Does it turn you on knowing that you make me flustered all the time? Like when you humiliated me in front of the entire class earlier?_

_Oh, Miss Swan, don't worry. I'll make it up to you. That's a promise._ Emma bites her lip and tries to think of something to say back. She stops and waits when she sees Regina's typing again. _Whenever you bite your lip, I want so badly to be the one sucking it between my teeth and making you moan._

Fuck, Emma is so wet and she's about to take a quiz in a few minutes. Emma's about to respond when Regina stands up. 

"Miss Swan, why are you on your phone and not studying? Do you want to fail my class?" Regina asks and Emma shakes her head. "Good, then I suggest you put it away." Emma won't ever admit it to Regina, but seeing her like this - powerful and bossy - makes Emma even more turned on. "Alright, everyone put everything away. Time for the quiz." 

"We still have more time!" a kid protests and Regina shuts him up with a glare. 

"You should be thankful I even gave you time at all," Regina snaps and passes out the quizzes. Emma scans the page and exhales in relief. She found most of this stuff on Google, so she shouldn't fail. 

Twelve minutes later, Emma drops her pencil. She doesn't think she did that bad. Maybe she'll do okay in this class after all. It might come in handy that she's dating the teacher because she can always just ask for help. Dating? Are they dating? They've kissed and texted, and Emma guesses they've gone on two dates, but did those actually count? What are they?

When Regina comes to collect them, she must notice that Emma seems off because the look she gives her is concerned. 

"Class is dismissed. Except for you, Miss Swan," Regina says and Emma pretends to look annoyed at the thought of having to stay after class _again._ Emma doesn't mind one bit though. 

"I'm really sorry for coming in late, Professor Mills," Emma simpers, walking over to Regina's desk. Regina's eyes get darker and Emma feels excited. 

"I think it's time to teach you a lesson about what happens when you come in late," Regina replies and gets up to lock the door and turn off the lights. She moves a piece of paper in front of the door's window and checks to make sure that the blinds are closed. Emma's arousal heightens and she's sure she could come with only a few touches from Regina right now. 

"Sit on the desk," Regina orders and Emma obeys. 

"Wait, just before you do anything, can I ask you something?" Emma says and Regina nods. She takes a deep breath. "Will you have dinner with me? Like, as a date," she clarifies, just in case Regina doesn't understand what she means. 

Regina smiles. "Of course," she replies and kisses Emma. Emma kisses back and the kiss soon turns hot and then Regina's sucking and nibbling down her neck. She bites Emma's collarbone just gently enough to not leave a mark and Emma moans. Regina pulls away and covers her mouth with a hand. "Shh, you need to be quiet." Emma nods, her eyes wide at the thought of getting caught. It's exhilarating, but it'd be terrible for Regina if someone walked in right now. 

Emma bites her lip so hard she tastes blood when Regina slips her hand under her shirt and palms her breast through her sports bra. Regina tsks and sucks Emma's bottom lip into her mouth and it's so hot that Emma whispers her name breathlessly. 

Regina's hand travels downward and cups Emma's heat through her leggings. 

"Oh, fuck!" Emma rasps and her hips jerk forward. 

"I can feel how wet you are through your leggings, Miss Swan," Regina husks and Emma drops her head onto Regina's shoulder. Regina's making her feel so good right now and she's not even really touching her. Emma might die when they finally have sex. Which is hopefully right now. 

Regina's fingers delve into Emma's leggings and stroke her through her underwear and Emma's shaking with pleasure. All she needs is Regina to rub her clit once and she's sure that will be enough to make her come. 

"Oh, please, Professor," Emma begs and notices that Regina's eyes get even darker at the name. Regina kisses her and moves her underwear to the side and her fingers are so close to where Emma needs them the most - 

\- and Regina stops and pulls away. 

"Wait, no!" Emma exclaims and makes an effort to pull Regina back to her and finish what she started, but Regina's smirking and too far away from Emma. 

"I think maybe you'll think twice about coming to my class again late," Regina says smugly and Emma wants to throw a chair at the wall. Regina touched her, brought her to the edge, and left her with a bad case of female blue balls all to "teach her a lesson". 

"Regina, please," Emma begs. Regina shrugs innocently and kisses her one last time before walking toward the door. 

"Talk to you later, Miss Swan," she calls over her shoulder and then she's gone. 

Well, Emma did learn her lesson today. She's never going to be late to anything in her entire life ever again, especially Regina's class, that's for sure. 


	11. Study buddy

It's the night before the first test and Emma is stressed out. She's flipping through flashcards, doing practice problems, try to repeat laws back to herself. She's about to just call it a night and go watch Netflix, because is there really anything she can do right now?

Her phone buzzes with a text. _How's studying going?_ It's from Regina and Emma groans. She had reluctantly told the professor earlier that she desperately needed to study and could Regina _please_ try not to text her with a distraction. Regina had nodded and agreed, but clearly she's changed her mind. 

_It's not going too well_ is all she says and lays her phone facedown on her desk in her room. She reaches for a worksheet that she printed out online about vectors and scalars and starts to work on it when she gets another text. 

_Do you want to come over to my house so that I can help you?_ Emma breath catches; she's never been over to Regina's house before. Does Regina genuinely want to help her study or does she have ulterior motives? Not like Emma would mind having sex with her, it's just she needs to pass her class too. 

_Just so you can help me?_ She needs to make sure, but she's also not quite sure that she could refuse if Regina said no. 

_Of course, dear. I'll pick you up by the faculty parking lot in five._ Emma leaps out of her chair. She needs to get going. She grabs her backpack and pushes all of her study materials in it and then she's running toward the lot. The goosebumps on her skin force her to realize that she's in a tank top and spandex and it is not warm out, and she didn't even bring a jacket. Nor is she wearing a bra, and that fact is very obvious to see as her nipples are hard as ice. She crosses her arms over her chest and keeps going.

When she arrives at the parking lot, Regina's car is already parked with the professor still sitting in it. Emma crosses the road and slides into the passenger seat and leans over to kiss Regina. 

"Hey," Emma murmurs against her lips and she feels the brunette smile. 

"Hey," Regina whispers and Emma pulls away to put on her seatbelt. "So, studying's not going well?" 

Emma shakes her head. "I just can't remember how the laws apply to the problems, and I can never get the right answer and I'm just not sure what I'm doing wrong. And vectors and scalars are just stupid." It's very frustrating and she can't find the worked out solutions anywhere online. That's what she gets for not paying attention in class. 

"Hey, it's okay. Luckily for you, I know all about physics. We can walk through the problems step by step and I can explain why you got it wrong, sound good?" Regina asks, laying her hand on Emma's thigh and squeezing reassuringly. 

"You're amazing, you know that? And you're a pretty good teacher too," Emma says and Regina laughs.

"I know, dear."

Regina pulls into the driveway of her house and Emma's jaw drops. Regina Mills lives in a fucking mansion! She bets that the bathrooms are bigger than her dorm room, Jesus Christ, it's huge. Emma turns her head to gape at the professor, but she's already looking at her. 

"Oh my god," Emma breathes in wonder. Regina is obviously very wealthy, so why does she even bother teaching? 

"I inherited it when my parents died," Regina tells her softly. 

"I'm so sorry," Emma says and bites her lip. The house is amazing, but it's awful that Regina got it through the death of her parents. Regina gives her a half smile and gets out of the car. Emma follows her up to the front door and is once again rendered speechless when Regina opens it. The ceilings are high with a crystal chandelier hanging above them and everything is pristine. As Emma walks by the mirror hanging on the wall, she notices how out of place she looks. How Regina could be interested in her, Emma has no idea. 

Emma's never really been the insecure type, but as she walks into the kitchen and sees wine glasses on the table that probably cost more money than Emma has ever seen in her entire life, her stomach begins to coil tightly. Regina's family is loaded, and Emma has nothing. She is a fraud, she does not belong here. 

"Hey, you okay?" Regina asks gently and Emma looks up at her. She wants to ask what Regina sees in her, wants to know why she would ever like Emma. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, this is just a lot," Emma lies lamely and Regina comes over to her. She takes Emma into her arms and peppers light kisses to her cheeks. 

"I know this is slightly intimidating," Regina begins, stroking Emma's hair. Emma has never felt so safe, so loved. 

"It's just, you have all this, and I have a college dorm room. I can't offer you anything. You're so out of my league; you're rich, you're gorgeous, you're perfect, and I'm just nothing compared to that," Emma admits, her voice cracking. Regina brushes her lips against Emma's and hugs her tightly. 

"Never say that you are nothing, dear. And don't place me on a pedestal. I'm not a soccer team, I don't have a league. I like you Emma, and I really want to get to know you better. Please don't push me away just because I live in a big house," Regina whispers into her ear and Emma feels like a weight has been taken off her chest. She pulls out of the embrace and rests her forehead against Regina's. 

"Thank you," Emma says hoarsely. 

"Of course, dear. Now, shall we start studying? You have a test tomorrow," Regina exclaims, clapping her hands together. Regina brings her into the living room and Emma sits on a couch and pulls out the worksheets that she was doing earlier and hands them to Regina. 

As the professor looks over them, Emma stares at her, soaking in her beauty. She notices that Regina has a little scar above her lip, and wonders how she never noticed it before. Maybe she covers it up with makeup. Or maybe Emma's been too busy staring at other parts of her and just didn't notice it. 

"I can feel you watching me," Regina mumbles, still poring over the paper. 

"You're so beautiful," Emma says and Regina looks up to meet her eyes. Regina softens and leans over to kiss her lips. 

"You're not too bad yourself, Miss Swan," Regina remarks as she looks Emma up and down with a heated gaze. Emma bites her lip, torn between fucking Regina right here on the couch or actually studying. But Regina makes that choice for her when she starts working out one of the problems that Emma couldn't figure out. 

"So?" Emma asks after Regina's been intently checking her own work with a scowl and a wrinkled forehead for a couple of minutes.

"Emma, where did you find these problems? What happened to the ones I gave you last week?" 

Emma rummages through her bag and pulls out the packet that Regina gave her at the tutoring session. "I was able to do them all so I decided to look online for more problems just to make sure that I've mastered it. Apparently I haven't though," she says, nodding to all the wrong answers on her paper with a frown. 

"Okay, well these?" Regina holds up the problems from Google. "They're wrong. The answers from online are wrong, you were right. What site did you find these on?" 

Emma shrugs. "It was a pretty sketchy website." 

"I recommend using Khan Academy for practice and there's videos that can walk you through it if you don't understand it," Regina suggests. 

"Or I could just ask my super awesome girlfriend for help," Emma counters and freezes. Emma hasn't been able to take her out on the promised date yet and they haven't talked about their relationship, so she doesn't really know what they are. 

"Girlfriend, hmm?" Regina muses and Emma smiles nervously. "I like it." Emma beams and kisses her, cupping Regina's cheek with her hand. Before it can turn heated, Regina gently pushes her away. 

"What?" Emma groans in protest. 

"How about I quiz you once and then we get something to eat? I have lasagna in my freezer if you want that," Regina offers. Emma huffs and she moves herself so she's laying down with her head in Regina's lap. Regina starts to stroke her hair until Emma agrees. 

"Fine, you can quiz me once. But I already ate. Could we just watch a movie and make popcorn or something?" Emma asks hopefully and Regina nods. 

"Alright, but you have to do well right now. What is Newton's first law?" 

"A body at rest with remain at rest and a body in motion will remain in motion until they are acted upon by an external force," Emma recites and Regina looks pleased. 

"The second law?" 

"Force equals mass times acceleration." 

Regina hums in approval. "And the third law."

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

"Very good. Okay, when you step off a curb, Earth pulls you downward. The reaction to this force is?" 

Emma chews on her lip for a second. "Me pulling the earth upward?" The answers to the questions about the third law always seem awkward to Emma, but as long as it's right, she doesn't care. 

"Two people of equal mass on slippery ice push off from each other. Will they both move at the same speed in opposite directions?" 

Emma closes her eyes and imagines it. "Yes," she answers confidently and Regina smiles at her. 

"You're doing well. A bird flies by...?" 

Emma vaguely remembers Regina asking this one in class but there's a good chance that Emma was starting at her ass instead of the board during this question. She knows it had to do with the third law, though. "The bird pushes his wings down, which pushes air down, and since there's an equal and opposite reaction, air pushes it upward." 

"Very good, Miss Swan."

"You don't have to sound so impressed. I'm smart too, you know," Emma tells her and Regina brushes a hair off her forehead. 

"I know you are, dear. Just a few more. A cart is being pushes along a track with a certain force. If the force remains the same while mass of the cart decreases to half, what happens to the acceleration of the cart?" 

The second law is all logic. "The acceleration doubles." Regina nods, and Emma's proud of herself. She might actually do well on this test. 

"A cart is being pushed along a track so that twice as much net force acts on it. If the acceleration remains the same, what is a reasonable explanation?" 

"The mass doubled along with the force," Emma answers. 

"I think you're going to do just fine tomorrow, Miss Swan," Regina says and Emma grins widely. "Now, I'll go make some popcorn while you pick out a movie." Regina leaves the room and Emma finds the case of movies and flips through them. There's not a lot of choices, but she chooses and selects _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire._ It's her favorite one. 

Regina comes back in two minutes later and settles in next to Emma on the couch. Emma rests her head on Regina's shoulder and wraps her arms around the professor's stomach and Emma feels like she's a koala. Regina presses a kiss to Emma's head. 

"You're a great study buddy," Emma whispers as the movie starts. She hears and feels Regina laugh and she snuggles into her tighter. Regina moves an arm around Emma so that they're holding each other, and thirty minutes into the movie, Emma dozes off to Regina lightly rubbing circles on her back. 


	12. Rules

Emma wakes up with a jolt when the movie's almost over and she opens her eyes just in time to see Cedric being killed by Voldemort. She carefully looks up at Regina, who's engrossed in the movie. Emma smiles at her and kisses her neck softly, and Regina looks down at her. 

"Hey, sleeping beauty," Regina says and Emma untangles herself from the teacher with a yawn. 

"What time is it?" Emma asks, still feeling pretty foggy. She blinks away the sleep and then suddenly she's wide awake. 

"It's almost ten. You can sleep over if you want," Regina offers. Emma nods enthusiastically. "Let's finish the movie first though." Emma snuggles back into Regina's arms and thinks about how her Evil Queen nickname is all wrong. Regina is the opposite of bitchy and cold. 

When Amos Diggory runs onto the field and holds his son while crying, Emma hears Regina sniff. She looks up to check if the brunette is crying, and Emma can tell that her eyes are watering. Emma chuckles and Regina wipes her eyes and glares at Emma, who starts to laugh harder. 

"Shut up," Regina mumbles and playfully shoves Emma away from her. 

"Don't worry, babe, I know you have a reputation to maintain. I won't tell anyone," Emma promises and Regina rolls her eyes. 

The movie ends and Emma's stomach is filled with butterflies. Are they going to sleep together now? She wants that more than anything, but are they rushing it? Will Regina still want to be with her after they've had sex? 

Regina stands up and holds a hand out to Emma, who takes it. Regina helps her off the couch and then she's leading her up the stairs and down a hallway. Emma's heart is pounding. She can't wait to feel Regina's skin on hers and listen to her moan Emma's name while Emma makes Regina writhe beneath her in pleasure. 

"And here we are," Regina announces, stopping in front of a closed door. "The guest bedroom." 

Emma's face falls and Regina smirks knowingly. "Right, the _guest_ bedroom." 

"It's a school night, dear. And you have a test tomorrow. You need rest," Regina says and presses a featherlight kiss to her lips before brushing past her. 

"Thanks, mom," she retorts. "I'm not eight years old, you know!" Emma calls after her. 

"There's pajamas in the top drawer," Regina replies, stopping at another door. "Goodnight, Emma." 

"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight," Emma says and walks into the guest room, which is bigger than Emma's entire dorm room. She finds a pair of silky blue pajamas right where Regina said they would be and puts them on. She almost purrs at how soft they are. The bed is the nicest bed she's ever been in and she's back asleep in five minutes. 

***

When Emma wakes up, it's still dark. It takes her a moment to figure out where she is, but when she remembers, she cranes her neck to look at the clock and it's 6:45. She figures Regina will be up by now, so Emma heads downstairs to find the kitchen.

"Good morning, dear," Regina greets, sitting at the table and sipping on a cup of coffee. "Do you want me to get you something to eat? I can make eggs, I have some cereal, what do you want? Coffee, milk?" 

What Emma wants is to never leave. It's been so easy to pretend that they can be together when it's just the two of them here away from everyone else, but it's much more complicated than that. Emma looked up the rules on student-teacher relationships at Storybrooke the first day she saw Regina, and while it's allowed as long as there's no preferential treatment, students are not allowed to engage in a relationship with a professor of a course they are taking. So Emma and Regina will have to wait until the end of this year to even think about going public. Most likely, they'll have to keep it a secret until Emma graduates just in case. 

"Can I just have hot chocolate, please?" Emma asks when Regina starts to look concerned at the blonde's silence. Regina nods and gets a Swiss Miss hot chocolate packet and dumps it into a cup of milk. She puts it in the microwave and gets the whipped cream out from the fridge. Emma looks delighted when Regina hands her the canister. 

"You ordered extra whipped cream when we went out to breakfast," Regina explains. Emma's genuinely touched that she remembered that. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" 

"I'm sure. I'm actually pretty nervous for the test today so I'd probably just throw it up anyway," Emma tells her, and although she is anxious about the test, she's also anxious about them. She wishes she could just go back to last night and curl up with Regina on the couch all over again. But in just a short time, they will have to go back to reality. A reality where they're not supposed to be together. 

Regina sets her hot chocolate down in front of her and then walks over to hug Emma from behind, resting her head on her shoulder. 

"You'll be fine, babe," Regina mumbles in her ear and they've only been together for a little over a week, but being here with Regina, Emma finally feels like she belongs. Regina pecks her cheek and goes to sit back down at the table. 

"How can we be together?" Emma blurts out, and Regina looks at her, startled. "You're my teacher, I'm your student, but god, I like you so much, and I'm just afraid that you're going to realize how much more you could have and leave me because we can only be together behind closed doors." 

"Emma, sit down," she says, nodding at the seat across from her. Emma obeys without a word. "Dear, I don't care that we can't be open about our relationship, and this is still very new to both of us, but I want to make this work, because I like you a lot too. And if anyone's going to realize how much more they could have, it's you."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're young, you have friends, you seem popular, but I know that now you're willing to give it up to spend time with me, and I fear that one day you may regret that and leave me for someone younger," Regina says. The thought of that happening is very unlikely, but Emma's kind of glad to know she's not the only one with doubts. 

"I wouldn't do that, Regina. I've wanted you since the first moment I saw you and all I want to do is spend time with you."

Regina smiles. "I appreciate that, Emma. But if this is going to work, I think we should set up some rules." Emma frowns. "You cannot fall behind in school, especially my class. Just because you are dating a teacher does not mean that I will be lenient with you if you are too busy staring at me during class to pay attention. I have no problem helping you if I can tell that you're at least trying, but I won't help you if you're just blatantly not putting any effort in. Okay?"

Emma nods. She already was planning on trying in her class without her saying that. 

"And since I refuse to let your grades drop, we shouldn't spend too much time together during the week. I have things to grade, and you have homework. However, on the weekends, I'm totally okay if you want to chill out here and work on stuff." 

"Sounds good. Anything else?" 

Regina's quiet for a minute. "I don't think so. Can you think of anything else?" 

"Not at the moment. We can add stuff later though if we come up with something," Emma says, feeling hopeful. Maybe there's a chance that they can do this after all. As long as they're both willing to put in the work, and Emma surely is. 

"Great. Do you want to go back to your dorm or stay and review for the test?" Regina asks and Emma purses her lips. She doesn't want to leave, but she does _not_ want to think about physics this early in the morning. 

"Is going back to bed an option? Because the guest bed was hella comfortable," Emma says and Regina rolls her eyes. 

"Class starts in about a hour and a half. That time is yours to do as you want," Regina replies neutrally and Emma walks over behind her and begins to lightly massage her shoulders. She can literally feel how stressed Regina is. 

"What do you want to do?" Emma whispers. 

"I'm sure I could think of something," Regina murmurs and turns her head to capture Emma's lips in a kiss. It quickly becomes heated and Regina scoots back the chair and Emma awkwardly maneuvers herself so that she's sitting on the professor's lap. She slides her arms around her neck and tangles her fingers into dark hair. 

Emma shifts forward and Regina gasps. Emma flicks her tongue against Regina's lips and she feels Regina's nails digging into her through her shirt. Regina moans lowly as Emma rolls her hips against her lap and the blonde sucks on the spot behind the professor's earlobe before kissing a path from her ear to her collarbone, careful not to leave marks. 

"Emma," Regina pants, head hitting the chair, hips lifting in order to seek out more friction. Emma slips her hand underneath Regina's shirt, feeling her warm, soft skin. She brushes her hand higher until she gets to her breast, and Regina whimpers when Emma squeezes it. "Emma," she says again, a little more urgent, and the blonde pulls away. Regina's arms are still around her waist. 

"Yeah?" she asks. She's so turned on right now she can barely think straight. 

"As much as I'd love to fuck you right here on my kitchen table, I really think we should stop," Regina tells her, and Emma can't stop a shiver from going down her spine at the thought of being bent over on the table and Regina shoving her fingers inside her. 

"We have time though," Emma protests, even though she knows the moment is over. 

"I know babe, but we haven't even gone on an official date. I don't want to rush into things. Can we just wait a little bit?" Regina asks, and even though Emma can see arousal in the professor's dark eyes, she knows Regina is certain about wanting to wait. 

"Yeah, that's totally fine," Emma concedes and climbs off Regina. She completely respects Regina and whatever she wants, but if Emma doesn't get off soon, she might die. "I think I might take a shower before class."

Regina smirks knowingly and smooths down her own hair before leading her to the shower in Regina's bathroom. Emma turns on the water and Regina leans against the doorway. 

"I have some clothes you might be able to wear. I'll go see what I can find," Regina says and walks back into her bedroom. Emma steps into the shower and slides a hand between her thighs. She's soaked and all it takes to make her come is imagining Regina kneeling before her, eating her out at the kitchen table. 

She clamps a hand over her mouth before she can moan Regina's name. 

Emma's just gotten out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her when Regina walks back in holding a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. 

"I bought these awhile back when I was sick and I've never worn them again," Regina says, eyes almost black as she takes in Emma's almost naked body. Regina bites her lip and Emma wonders if Regina will go against her own wishes to wait. She hopes she decides to. 

Before Emma can say or do anything, Regina exits the bathroom to let her change. Emma's slightly disappointed, but she's just happy that she gets to be with Regina. 

She walks downstairs once she's dressed and runs her fingers through her still-damp hair. She finds Regina sitting in the living room on her phone. 

"Hey," Emma says as to not startle her, and Regina smiles before turning her phone off and putting it on the side table. Emma sits next to her. 

"How was your shower?" Regina asks and Emma blushes. 

"It was great. Really hot," she answers, meeting the professor's eyes, and she sees that Regina has picked up on the ambiguity. There's no doubt in her mind that Regina knows exactly what Emma was doing in the shower. 

"Mm, I'm sure it was," Regina agrees huskily. 

"So we have an hour before class. What do you want to do?" Emma changes the subject before Regina can ask what she was thinking about. 

"Other than you?" Regina asks with a smirk and Emma almost chokes on her own spit. 

"I thought we agreed to wait," Emma mutters.

"We did, dear, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun teasing you," Regina says. 

"You're so mean," Emma groans and Regina laughs. 

"And here I thought you'd learned your lesson after you said that I was cruel the other day. Shall I remind you, Miss Swan, that me teasing you is not mean? But me telling you that I want nothing more than to take you right now on this couch and fuck you the rest of the day, now _that_ would be mean," Regina purrs. 

And fuck, Emma's painfully turned on again. "Why would you say that to me?" she whines and flops onto her back on the couch. 

"You're just so easy to mess with, my dear. And I love watching how flustered you get whenever I say that I want to fuck you."

Emma rolls her eyes and bites the inside of her cheek. She wishes Regina would just do it already.

Regina cocks her head to the side. "You seem impatient," she observes innocently. 

"I can't imagine why that would be," Emma retorts.

"Don't worry, Em-ma. When I finally fuck you, it'll be worth it," Regina says. 

And Emma somehow doesn't doubt that one bit. 


	13. The first real date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Regina go to see The Rise of Skywalker in this chapter and there could be slight spoilers based on their reactions.

Saturday night, Emma picks Regina up and takes her to the movie theater twenty minutes away from campus. It turns out, Regina's a bigger Star Wars nerd than she is, and _Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker_ has just come out. And of course, Regina looks perfect in a dark purple dress, whereas Emma looks casual at best in jeans and a white sweater. 

"You seriously drive this metal coffin on wheels?" Regina asks incredulously when she gets into Emma's bug that she's had forever. 

"Yeah, I like it," Emma says defensively. "What's wrong with it?"

"Other than the fact that it's a deathtrap? It's yellow, dear, my least favorite color," Regina says and Emma rolls her eyes. 

"Next time, we'll just walk then," Emma offers. 

"Next time, we'll take my car," Regina counters. Emma makes a face at her and focuses on driving. 

The movie theater parking lot is packed when they get there and Emma ends up finding a spot what seems like a mile away from the entrance. While they're walking, Regina intertwines her fingers with Emma and Emma smiles to herself. The chances of them seeing someone they both know are very low, so they can safely act like a couple. 

"Two tickets for Rise of Skywalker," Emma orders at the ticket booth once they've finally gotten inside. The lady clicks her computer, prints them out, and hands them to Emma, who in turn gives her twenty dollars. Emma leads Regina to the concessions line. "Do you want anything? My treat."

"When you asked to take me out to dinner, I was originally thinking you meant something other than popcorn and soda," Regina says wryly. 

"They also have candy," Emma adds. "Do you want to share a medium popcorn and a coke? I think I'm going to get Sour Patch Kids too. Those are just for me, though." 

"Don't get cheap on me now, Miss Swan. I would like my own coke, but I'm good with sharing popcorn. Do you think maybe after this we could get some real food?" 

Emma shrugs and pulls her up to the counter and orders. The total is about twenty two dollars and Emma grumbles about how expensive movie theaters are as she pays. Regina may have taken her out to eat twice, but Emma thinks this date has cost more than both of those combined. 

"We might need to take a raincheck on the real food," Emma tells Regina, who chuckles. 

"Don't worry about it, dear. We can go back to my place after. I'm sure you'll be able to find something to eat there," Regina says with a suggestive wink and Emma goes red, and _great_ , now she's not going to be able to focus on the movie because Regina hinted at having sex later. 

Emma really needs to learn how to control her thoughts around Regina, but it's just so damn hard when she says things like that. 

They walk into their designated theater and find two seats in the middle of one of the top rows. There's still ten minutes before the movie starts, so Emma takes out her phone. She can feel Regina watching over her shoulder as she reads the text she got from Ruby a few minutes ago.

_Em, where r u? I just went by your dorm, MM said you haven't been there since last night. Are you with someone?? Emma, why didn't you tell me?? Call me as soon as you get a chance, we need to catch up._ Emma can practically hear Ruby squealing as she reads it. She hasn't talked to Ruby much at all since the date with Killian, the date that Ruby sold her out for. She was just trying to protect her girlfriend, but Emma still can't help but feel bitter about it. 

_Hey, sorry I haven't talked to you in a few days, I've been really busy_ Emma writes back. If she says she's on a date, Ruby will ask too many questions, and even though she's her best friend, Emma knows that Ruby _loves_ to gossip. 

Regina gently nudges Emma with her elbow when the lights dim, and Emma shoves her phone back into her pocket. After what seems like a hundred previews, the Star Wars logo comes onto the screen followed by the moving text. 

Emma bounces her leg excitedly. The Star Wars series is one of the best in the world, and she really hopes that the last movie is a good one. Regina lays her hand flat on Emma's thigh and shoots her a glance. Emma stops tapping her leg, but Regina doesn't move her hand off. 

Emma tries her best to pay attention to the movie, but it's near impossible to when Regina's rubbing little circles on her leg with her thumb. She looks at Regina, expecting to see her watching Emma with a smirk, but instead finds the professor intently watching the movie. Emma wonders if she even realizes what she's doing. Her question is answered when Regina lightly squeezes her thigh and tilts her head to the screen, silently telling Emma to look at the movie and not at her. 

Emma slouches further into her chair and takes a sip of coke and loses herself in the movie. 

When it's over, Emma feels disappointed. The ending was not what she thought it was going to be, and that was supposed to be the last movie in the franchise. She glances over at Regina, who looks very distraught. 

"You okay?" Emma asks, fighting back a grin. She loves watching Regina getting worked up over movies more than she actually enjoys watching them. 

"I'm fine," Regina snaps and Emma has to laugh. Regina glares at her with a frown. "What was that ending? I just can't believe it; god, it was _so_ unsatisfying! I mean, the entire series is over, and that's how they chose to end it?" Emma will not be surprised at all if JJ Abrams gets an angry letter from Regina in the next few days. 

"Babe, I know, I'm just as upset as you are, but let's get out of the theater before the next movie starts, yeah? Everyone else has already left," Emma says and Regina looks around, noticing for the first time that they're the only ones still in the room. "Why don't we just go home and then we can keep talking about it. Or we can do something else," she hints suggestively, mainly in order to distract her from the fact that she just referred to Regina's house as _home_. 

Luckily, Regina's still too pissed about the ending to notice her slip up and just takes her hand and together they storm out of the movie theater. 

When Emma pulls into Regina's driveway, the air feels charged with all the sexual tension between them and Emma knows that it can't just be one-sided right now. She needs Regina so bad right now, and if Regina doesn't want to have sex, Emma doesn't know what she'll do. 

Regina smirks at her like she can hear her thoughts as they walk up the porch to the front door. Regina unlocks it, they walk inside, and then Regina's on her, kissing her hotly, shoving her and pinning her against the door. 

Emma gasps as Regina bites her lip and then sucks and then Emma's whirling them around and holding Regina's wrists above her head, and Regina makes a sound in the back of her throat, and fuck, Emma needs to fuck her, needs to taste every inch of her perfect body. 

Regina wraps a leg around Emma to pull her closer, and then the blonde digs her fingers into Regina's hips and is holding her up against the door and she moans loudly when Emma moves her hands to her ass and squeezes. 

"Oh, _Emma_ ," the brunette breathes and those words make all the waiting worth it. Emma nibbles on her jaw and then kisses her way down her neck and then sucks softly on Regina's collarbone. Regina's dress has ridden up to her hips and Emma can feel the heat radiating from her center, can feel how wet she is through her panties. 

This time, Regina trails her tongue down a tendon in Emma's neck and bites and Emma curses. She's never been a really big fan of biting, but when Regina does it, it's suddenly one of the hottest things ever. She sucks hard on a pulse point and Emma moans and arches into Regina. 

"Upstairs, now," Regina orders. "I can't wait anymore."

"Thank god," Emma says and is about to put her down so they can go to the bedroom when Regina's legs tighten around her waist. 

"Carry me," Regina demands. 

"As you wish, _Your Majesty_ ," Emma obeys and she sees Regina's eyes darken at the title. 

She practically runs up the stairs, fingers fumbling with the zipper on Regina's dress, and then she's dropping her on the master bed and her mouth is back on Regina's, kissing her hard. Somehow, Regina manages to pull her dress off and she's left in a lacy black bra and matching panties. 

"Fuck, you're beautiful," Emma whispers, soaking in the glorious sight that is Regina's body. Regina takes Emma's hand and leads it to her underwear and Emma dips her fingers inside and moans at how wet she is. 

"Please just fuck me, Miss Swan," Regina says, and Emma's only too happy to oblige. 


	14. Always

Emma lays Regina on her back and then props herself over her professor on her elbows. She kisses Regina hard and Regina lightly scrapes her fingernails down Emma's tone back and then tugs at her sweater. 

"I think you have too many clothes on," Regina remarks and then Emma's laughing breathlessly while she strips down to her bra and underwear. Regina reaches around her and unclasps Emma's dark red bra and then her mouth is on her nipple, sucking and nibbling. She can leave as many marks as she wants to on her chest, where the skin will be covered by a shirt. 

"Oh," Emma gasps and Regina smirks and rolls them over so that she's on top. She kisses down from her breast to her stomach and Regina hums in delight. 

"Your abs look positively delicious," Regina says, and then traces over each muscle with her tongue, gently biting. Emma's back arches off the bed and then Regina's moving lower, kissing Emma's thighs. 

"Please don't tease," Emma begs, but if there's one thing that Regina Mills is, it's a damn tease. She runs her tongue lightly over where Emma needs her the most and then she's pulling away to kiss down Emma's leg, exactly in the opposite direction of where Emma wants. 

And Emma can't take it anymore. She needs Regina right now like she needs air, and if the professor won't fuck Emma, then Emma will certainly fuck her. 

This time when Emma flips them over, she makes sure to pin Regina's wrists above her head. Regina squirms when Emma sucks on a sensitive spot behind her earlobe and slips a finger into her underwear. 

"God, you're so fucking wet," Emma groans, gently and easily sliding a finger into her. The noise Regina makes is something between a choke and a sob. Emma removes her finger and sucks it into her mouth and Regina's watching her, breasts heaving, visibly turned on. "You taste so good." 

Regina moans and then Emma's fingers are back in her slick heat, pressing down on her clit with her thumb, curling two fingers inside her. She thrusts fast and hard, and when Regina starts to tremble, Emma slows down her pace. 

"Emma, I swear to god, if you don't fuck me right now I will fail you," Regina threatens, but it's hard to take her seriously when her voice is raspy, her hair is messed up, and she's almost fully naked, so Emma just lightly kisses her stomach, leisurely pumping her fingers in and out, her thumb brushing against Regina's clit occasionally. "Emma!" she growls, hips bucking against Emma's fingers, so desperate for more. 

"So you can dish it out but you can't take it? I thought you'd like being teased," Emma responds and twists her fingers. Regina lets out a shaky gasp. 

"Right there, Emma, please," Regina says, and Emma gives in and then she's buried knuckle deep in Regina and rubbing her clit just the way she likes it. Emma can tell she's so close, can see it in her eyes, can feel the way her body is shaking, so Emma leans down and bites Regina's stomach and Regina whimpers and comes. 

"Did I pass?" Emma asks and Regina rolls her eyes halfheartedly. 

"With flying colors, dear," Regina tells her and Emma smiles smugly. 

Regina leans onto her side and kisses the smirk off Emma's face, and then she's lowering herself until she's eye level with Emma's dripping pussy. Emma watches Regina bite her lip and she falters when she sees something in Regina's eyes - something carnal and dark. 

Once again, Regina teases her by kissing her right thigh, going higher and higher, until she switches to the left one and Emma groans. 

"Please just fuck me," Emma whines and can feel Regina smirking against her skin. 

"You sound impatient," Regina observes and then she's licking up Emma's slit and Emma's head falls back on the bed. "And you're so very wet." 

Emma can imagine, considering all things. 

"Regina, just fuck me," Emma repeats and Regina laughs.

"Why don't you ask nicely?" 

"Please, Professor Mills, will you fuck me already?" Emma snaps and while she didn't think it was possible for Regina's eyes to get darker, they do. Regina seems very pleased with this, as her tongue delves into Emma, her teeth bumping against her clit. "Oh my god," Emma moans, tangling her fingers into Regina's hair. 

She can feel Regina smiling as she continues to eat her out, and Emma knows she's not going to last much longer. Emma lifts a leg over Regina's shoulder to keep her in place and when Regina eases a finger into her and sucks hard on her clit, Emma comes with a loud moan. When she finally falls down from her high, she chuckles and kisses Regina, who has climbed back up to lay next to her.

”That was amazing,” Emma says, and Regina nods in agreement. She had been fantasizing about fucking Regina, but had no idea that it would be this mind blowing.

”Stay with me?” Regina asks and Emma just curls up next to her in response. She knows she would stay with Regina forever if that’s what she wanted. 

“Always,” Emma murmurs against Regina’s neck, and then drifts off to sleep. 


	15. Various ways to learn

Emma wakes up before Regina. It’s a Sunday morning, which means that they will hopefully spend the whole day together. Emma also has a ton of homework for other classes, but who cares? 

“Gina?” Emma asks, shaking the professor slightly. She groans and rolls over so she’s not facing Emma anymore. Emma smirks with an idea of how to wake her up. 

Emma leans over her and presses featherlight kisses to Regina’s neck while her hand creeps down her body until she’s in between Regina’s thighs. She strokes a finger through Regina’s already wet folds and bites her shoulder gently. 

”Emma,” Regina mutters sleepily. When Emma rubs a finger against her clit, Regina gasps and wakes up, flipping over to see Emma smiling. 

”Morning, sleeping beauty,” Emma greets and Regina rolls her eyes. 

”I’m more of an Evil Queen,” Regina says, acknowledging the nickname all the students call her. 

”You don’t seem very evil,” Emma remarks and then Regina’s straddling her, grinding against Emma’s stomach, and she can see glistening wetness on her abs. Regina leans down to kiss her and slips a hand between them, down to Emma’s pussy. She thrusts a finger inside, the palm of her hand roughly bumping against Emma’s clit with every stroke and Emma’s so close, she’s trembling -

\- and Regina pulls away, giving her a classic Regina smirk. 

“What-? Why-?” Emma stammers, painfully close to the edge. All she needs is just a little more, one more touch. 

”Do I seem evil now?” Regina asks and Emma clenches her teeth. 

"Please, Regina, don't do this now," Emma says and Regina pretends to think about it. "You are _so_ evil," Emma moans and flops her head onto the pillow when Regina doesn't make a move. And then she feels Regina's mouth on her, lapping up the wetness from her pussy, and Emma's hips rock forward. "Oh, god." 

When Regina pulls away again, Emma groans in frustration. She’s so turned on she can’t even think straight, and Regina has to know this. 

”Beg,” Regina orders and while Emma would normally be too proud to even consider such a thing, there’s close to nothing she wouldn’t do right now to get Regina to touch her. 

”Please, Regina,” Emma begs, but it’s not good enough for Regina, who starts to suck on the sensitive part of Emma’s thighs. Emma almost cries. What is she supposed to do? 

As if sensing Emma’s exasperation, Regina gives her a hint. “Who am I?” she asks. And Emma gets it. 

”Oh god, please, Professor Mills, fuck me, make me come just for you, please professor,” Emma tries again, and desire flashes onto Regina’s face and then she’s thrusting two fingers into her and sucking on her clit, finally letting Emma come. 

Emma’s panting when Regina comes back up to lay next to her. They cuddle for a few minutes before Regina rolls out of bed and Emma lets out a noise of protest. 

”I need to shower,” Regina says and rummages through her dressers for clothes. 

”Mind if I join you? We’ll save water if we shower together, you know. It’s better for the environment,” Emma tells her matter-of-factly, and Regina raises an eyebrow at her. 

”Well then, by all means darling, come and join me in the shower. You know how enthusiastic I am about helping the environment,” Regina says and Emma grins and runs off to start the shower. 

***

After a very pleasurable shower, Regina’s teaching Emma how to make apple turnovers. Regina was aghast when Emma mentioned she didn’t really know how to bake, so now she has taken it upon herself to teach her. Not that Emma minds, of course. It’s hard not to like it when Regina presses her body up against Emma’s in order to show her how to knead the dough. 

”Like this?” Emma asks, purposely rolling the dough out wrong. She knows she should be pressing harder in order to really get it stretched out, but why pass up another chance to feel Regina wrapped around her? 

Regina sighs. “Emma, I’ve told you a million times already, you need to press harder.” 

”Can you show me?” Emma asks innocently and Regina rolls her eyes. 

”You’re insatiable,” Regina scoffs, but puts her arms around Emma and grasps Emma’s hands in hers, showing her how to roll out the dough. Emma bites her lip when she feels Regina's breasts brushing her back every time they push forward with the rolling pin. 

”What can I say, I’m a hands-on learner,” Emma quips and she feels Regina rest her head on her shoulder. 

”That you are, Miss Swan,” she agrees, and then steps away to fill the uncooked pastries with the apple filling. Emma instantly misses Regina’s warmth. 

"What do you need me to do?" Emma's never been a really big fan of cooking - usually just preferring to pick up food from somewhere or to throw a hot pocket in the microwave - but she really enjoys baking with Regina. She figures it has more to do with the person than the activity, though. 

"Wash the dishes," Regina says, concentrating on scooping the apple filling into the pastries, not even looking up at Emma, who's pouting. All Regina has let her done is roll out the dough and she wants to do more. But Regina is bossy in the classroom, in the bed, and even in the kitchen. The professor is also a bit of a control freak. 

"Fine," Emma grumbles and picks up a bowl that still has flour left over. She grins wickedly before grabbing a handful of flour and throwing it at Regina. She gasps loudly and Emma laughs when Regina turns around with flour in her hair and on her face, and Emma can even see some on her clothes. 

"Emma!" Regina scolds and Emma thinks that she's going to be yelled at when Regina reaches over and dumps the entire bowl over Emma's head, covering her entire body in flour. 

"My jacket!" Emma yells, trying to brush all the white powder off her beloved red jacket. It only smears, and Emma glares at Regina, who shrugs. 

"You started it," Regina remarks and Emma grabs the sink faucet, turns it on, and sprays water all over Regina. "Hey!"

"Sorry, you had a bit of flour on your face," Emma explains to the soaking wet woman. Before Emma even realizes it, Regina's snatched the faucet from her and shoots jets of water at Emma. At least her jacket is no longer covered in flour. 

When Regina finally stops with the water, the kitchen is flooded and flour is sticking everywhere. It's a complete mess, but Emma and Regina just start laughing. 

They quickly clean up the mess and then they change clothes and head to the study to get some work done. 

"Ugh, I give up," Emma groans and throws her pencil to the ground twenty minutes later. Regina looks up from her papers that she's grading. 

"What are you doing?" Regina asks, sliding Emma's homework over to look at it. 

"Physics. This is just too much," Emma says, burying her head in her hands. Regina scoffs. 

"Emma, this stuff is not that hard." 

Emma lifts her head to glare at Regina. "Yeah, that's easy for you to say. You're a damn physics teacher. I know that it's not that hard, I'm just not getting it, and I should, because it's easy, but I'm just so frustrated with myself because I don't." 

"Hey, hey," Regina says gently, stroking Emma's hair behind her ear. Emma leans into the touch. "It's okay if you don't get something. You can always ask me for help. Don't get down on yourself because you're not understanding something. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that this wasn't that hard. Let me help you." 

Emma shakes her head. "I'm fine, I can figure it out." 

"Babe, what's wrong? Why don't you want my help? Like you said, I'm a physics teacher, and your girlfriend. I'm always happy to help you."

Emma bites her lip and looks to the ground, shuffling her feet on the tile. "I just want you to be proud of me for doing well in your class without your help. It makes me feel stupid when I need your help and it makes me feel like you're going to think less of me," she admits, shame burning on her face. 

"Emma, how I feel about you is not based on how well you do in my class. Of course I want you to do well, but I am never going to look at you differently if you fail a quiz or a test. There is nothing wrong with needing help, okay? So please, let me help you," Regina says, tilting Emma's chin up with a finger so they're looking straight at each other. 

"Okay," Emma agrees softly. 

"Now, I'm going to quiz you. You said earlier you were a hands-on learner, so let's try something new," Regina suggests and Emma snorts. 

"Regina, I only said that so you'd put your arms around me." 

"Fine. How about this, then? For every right answer, I'll take off a piece of clothing. For every wrong answer, I put something back on," Regina says and Emma's mouth falls open. "Do you think this will help you?" 

Emma nods, dumbfounded. Regina smirks. 

"We'll start out easy. What is momentum?" 

"Mass times velocity. It means that inertia is in motion," Emma answers confidently. Regina nods and takes off her shirt, leaving her in a tank top. Emma can see a crimson bra strap. 

"When the speed of an object is doubled, what happens to its momentum?" 

"It doubles, right?" 

The tank top comes off. Regina's wearing a scarlet, lacy bra and fuck, she looks amazing and so hot in it. Emma's mouth is practically watering. 

"A brief force applied over a short time interval...?" 

Emma screws her eyes shut, searching her brain. "It produces a smaller change in momentum than the same force applied over a longer interval." 

Regina smiles and reaches down to pull off her socks. Emma frowns at her and Regina looks at her innocently. 

"A cannonball shot from a cannon with a long barrel will emerge with greater speed because the cannonball receives a greater...?"

Emma chews on the inside of her cheek. She doesn't know. "Momentum?" she guesses, and Regina shakes her head. 

"Impulse," Regina tells her and reaches back for her tank top. Emma inwardly groans. "When a dish falls, will the change in momentum be less if it lands on a carpet than if it lands on the floor?" 

"No, they're both the same." Regina takes the tank top off again. 

"What is the law of conversation of momentum?"

"Um, if there's no external forces, the momentum of a system remains unchanged?" Emma says and lets out a breath when Regina nods. She stands up and wriggles out of her pants, leaving her in lacy underwear, same color as the bra. Emma can feel herself getting wetter and doesn't know how much longer she can take. 

"What is elastic collision?" 

"That's what happens when colliding objects rebound without lasting deformation or any generation of heat." 

Regina smiles and reaches behind her to unclasp her bra. Emma licks her lips when the bra falls away. God, every part of Regina is perfect. 

"I don't know why you were so worried, dear, you're doing just fine," Regina remarks and Emma grins widely at her praise. "So then, inelastic collision must be?"

"It's when colliding objects result in deformation or the generation of heat," Emma answers, sliding forward to the edge of the chair in excitement. Regina has one last piece of clothing to take off. 

Regina's just about to take off her underwear when there's a knock on the door. 


	16. Troubles

"Robin?" Regina asks, and Emma can hear the surprise in her voice from where she'd hiding in the study. Emma inwardly groans; neither of them was expecting an ex-boyfriend to show up. The moment someone had knocked on the door, Regina had thrown her clothes back on and hurried out to get it, hissing for Emma to stay out of sight. 

"Hey, Regina," Robin says gruffly and Emma watches him shuffle his shoes through the crack in the door. 

"What are you doing here?" That's the Regina that Emma loves, always straight to the point. This hopefully won't take very long at all, and then Emma and Regina can go back to doing what they were before: strip quizzing. 

“I miss you.” Emma rolls her eyes. This must be some lame attempt on his part to win Regina back. 

”Robin, we’re done. I broke up with you. We’re not getting back together,” Regina says firmly. Emma taps her foot on the ground impatiently because Robin is still at the doorway. 

“Regina, I’ll be better this time. Just give me a second chance. I’ve changed,” he pleads desperately. 

”No. Go away,” Regina orders, but Robin doesn’t move. Emma watches them closely through the doorway, but jumps back when she swears she makes eye contact with Robin. Fuck, this is not good. She feels the mood shift when Robin looks back at Regina. 

”Are you here with someone?” Robin asks suspiciously and Emma holds her breath just in case Robin can somehow hear her breathing. 

”Robin, leave now,” Regina says forcefully. 

”Are you with someone else? Is that why you broke up with me? Because you were cheating on me? What the fuck, Regina? Who is it? I know he’s here right now, bring him out. I want to see him,” Robin spits and Emma breaks out in a cold sweat. 

”Robin, I swear to God, if you do not get off my property in the next ten seconds I will call the cops,” Regina threatens, her voice sharp enough to cut through glass. Emma’s too afraid to peek at what’s happening, but the sound of Regina closing the door tells her that Robin left. She exhales slowly. 

Regina slams open the door to the study and Emma jumps. 

”What the hell were you thinking?” Regina hisses. To say that Emma is surprised would be an understatement. “I told you to stay out of sight, why couldn’t you just listen to me? What would’ve happened if he had realized who you were? I could lose my job.” Emma states guiltily at the ground. 

”Babe, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” 

”No, you weren’t. You should go,” Regina says bluntly, and it’s like a punch to the gut. This was a close call, but they’re technically not doing anything illegal. Robin doesn’t even know who she is! 

”Regina-“

”Emma, please. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Regina tells her and walks out of the room. Emma wants to run after her and ask her what this is really about because it seems strange for her to be acting like this. They didn’t get caught. They’re still safe, Regina shouldn’t be kicking her out of the house. 

But Emma just leaves anyway. 

***

It’s the day before Thanksgiving break and Emma’s out with Mary Margaret and Ruby. It’s the last night before practically the entire school except for Emma leaves campus. She’d much rather be spending this time with Regina, but her friends refused to take no for an answer. 

Things with Regina are good, for the most part. There’s still the occasional tension between them, but considering their situation, this isn’t surprising. There’s been a few more close calls - like the time someone almost walked in on them in the classroom when Emma was shoved up against a desk with Regina’s hand down her pants, for example - and it’s usually followed up with a coldness from Regina for a few days. But they’ve always made up, and Emma can’t deny how she’s falling for the professor. 

She knows that, realistically, her and Regina don’t have much of a chance for a future together, but Emma likes to imagine. 

It’s still hard to picture a world where they can go to a bar with friends without judgement though. Like right now, with Ruby and Mary Margaret. 

”So, Emma, are you seeing anyone right now?” Ruby asks, peering at her over the top of her glass of beer. 

Emma shrugs and traces a circle with the condensation on her drink with a nail. Mary Margaret gasps. 

”Is this why you’re never at the dorm on the weekends?” Emma almost rolls her eyes at her roommate’s question. Of course it’s why she hasn’t been there. 

”Yeah, I guess I am seeing someone,” Emma answers coyly and Ruby smacks her on the arm. 

”Why didn’t you say anything? Who is it?” Ruby demands and Emma takes a long sip of her coke. 

”Is it Killian?” Mary Margaret guesses and Emma glares are her and shakes her head. 

”Is it Miss Mills?” Ruby says with a snicker and Emma chokes on her drink. 

”Of course not, Ruby, she’s my teacher,” Emma manages to reply through her coughing fit. She can feel her face turning bright red from equal parts embarrassment and lack of air. 

Ruby shrugs innocently. “Who is it then?” 

“You guys don’t know her. Plus I’d rather not tell you because I am completely certain that you will find her and talk to her and I don’t want that. End of discussion,” Emma says with finality and Ruby groans. 

Mary Margaret and Ruby go to throw darts and Emma pulls out her phone. 

_I miss you_ she texts Regina. She smiles softly to herself when three bubbles pop up. 

_Where are you?_

_At the bar with my friends. Wish you could be here with me.  
_

The bubbles pop up again. Emma taps her fingers on the table and stares at her phone, waiting for the response. 

To say that she’s shocked when the bubbles suddenly disappear would be quite the understatement. 

She tries to tell herself that Regina will text back soon, that she just got distracted by something. So Emma pockets her phone and goes over to her friends and joins into the game of Pool. 

Regina doesn’t text back all evening. 


	17. Goodbye, Emma

_Write a paragraph about something you were thankful for this Thanksgiving._

Emma stares at the prompt on the piece of paper in front of her. Her English professor, Professor Elsa Snow, wanted to give everyone a nice first day back, a way to gently ease back in to the last two weeks before exams. Emma was grateful at first for this, but now, seeing what she has to write about, she'd rather just dive right back in. 

Because Regina hasn't texted her since that night in the bar. Which was over a week ago. 

And it's pretty hard to feel thankful for anything when the person that you're fucking in love with won't even talk to you. 

She's in love with Regina, of this, she is absolutely certain. Emma hasn't told her yet, mainly because she hasn't had a chance to talk to her. And since Storybrooke decided to have their first day back on a Tuesday, she didn't have Physics yesterday. Unless Regina decides to finally text her, she won't see the brunette until tomorrow. 

Which fucking kills her. 

Elsa informs everyone that there's fifteen minutes left, so Emma scribbles on the page about how she was thankful for her friends. She does have pretty great friends, but she still misses Regina. 

***

Butterflies are fluttering inside Emma's stomach when she opens the door to Regina's classroom the next morning. Her throat squeezes when she takes in the professor, looking beautiful as always in a gray pencil suit and a purple button down shirt. Emma hopes there is some perfectly logical explanation for why Regina's been ignoring her texts - all 104 of them in the past week - but deep down, Emma knows that something is wrong. Did she say something? Whatever the reason is, Emma blames herself. She's always had this unhealthy habit of blaming herself for everything, but she can't help it. 

Regina passes out a practice quiz to see how much everyone remembers from before break, and when she gets to Emma, she briefly meets her eyes and then glances away. Emma glares at her paper, feeling hurt. 

Every so often during the class period, Emma will look up at Regina. But the brunette is never looking back at her. 

What happened to them? Every time Emma used to look up at her, Regina would smirk and eye-fuck her, and Emma would go red and slouch into her seat, a spot between her legs aching. Now there's only tension. 

When class ends, Emma waits until everyone else has left before walking up to Regina's desk, where the professor is reading some papers. Regina stiffens and looks up at her. Emma attempts to smile, attempts to hide her shaking hands. 

"You, uh, haven't texted me back," Emma says, biting her lip. Regina takes a deep breath and stares at her desk. Emma swallows roughly and wants to cry; she knows the outcome of this conversation isn't going to be good. 

"I was busy," Regina responds, the words sounding hollow. Emma can tell she's lying. "I was with my family. They're a handful." 

"You could've at least texted me once. Or yesterday. You could've texted me back last week instead of just not replying," Emma snaps without meaning to. Regina looks taken aback, but bows her head. She stands up and walks over to Emma. 

And then she kisses her, and Emma leans into it, wrapping her arms around Regina. 

Regina pushes her away too soon and Emma gapes at her. "We're in the classroom," Regina reminds her. 

"You kissed me," Emma says. Regina purses her lips and Emma wants to kiss her again. "Let's go somewhere else then," she offers and Regina shakes her head. Emma can see tears glistening in her eyes and her heart skips a beat. 

"Emma-"

"Regina, please. Don't do this," Emma begs. Regina swipes at her eyes and Emma closes hers. 

"We need to break up," Regina whispers so quietly that Emma can barely hear it and her stomach drops. "Last week, when you said you wished I was there with you in the bar, with your friends? I realized that we can't do that until you graduate. In two years. And I can't ask you to keep me a secret for that long. You deserve someone who you can be with out in the open, someone who you can take to hang out with your friends. You and I both know that we can't just keep sneaking around until you graduate. It's not fair to you, you should be able to live your life and be happy with someone that's your own age."

"You make me happy, Regina. And we don't have to wait until I graduate, I'm legal and students can't be involved with their teachers, so when I'm out of your class in a few months, we can go public. Please, don't do this," Emma repeats and Regina shakes her head again. 

"Emma, don't make this harder than it has to be. We can't be together. You know as well as I do that just because I'm not your teacher, doesn't mean people will be totally cool with us dating. I could still get fired. If you graduate and still want to be with me, then of course, we'll see where this can go. But for now, we need to end things. You deserve so much more than I can give you," Regina says, cupping Emma's cheek with her palm. A tear spills down Emma's cheek and she lets out a slow breath. 

"But I lov-"

"Please don't say that." Regina says and Emma's face falls.

"It's true," Emma tells her. 

"Goodbye, Emma." And those are the two saddest words she's ever heard. 

More tears roll down Emma's face as she steps away from her and runs out the classroom. 

She goes back to her dorm with blurry vision and throws herself on the bed and lets herself cry. 

She cries herself to sleep. 

***

When Emma wakes up, she feels numb, all dried out. She goes into their refrigerator and pulls out a frozen grilled cheese that she put in there a few days ago. She eats it cold and hates every bite of it. And then she pulls out her secret stash of candy and eats that all too. 

An hour later, she's kneeling by the toilet, throwing up all the Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids, Skittles, and Hot Tamales that she ate earlier, and sobbing hysterically. She hears the dorm room door open and then there's footsteps on the floor and then she feels someone's hands holding back her hair as she vomits again. 

"Oh, honey," Mary Margaret coos in her ear, gently rubbing circles on Emma's back. 

"Mary Margaret?" someone else calls from another room and Emma vaguely recognizes it to be David. 

"Just a second, babe!" Mary Margaret yells back to him and Emma drops her sweaty head against her roommate's shoulder. Mary Margaret combs her fingers through Emma's tangled hair while Emma hiccups, tears still staining her cheeks. 

"Everything okay-whoa, Emma, are you alright?" David asks, having stumbled upon them in the bathroom. Emma just shakes her head. 

"Come on, let's get you back to bed," Mary Margaret says. Emma flushes the toilet and lets Mary Margaret pull her up. With the help of the other woman and David, Emma stumbles back into bed. Mary Margaret tucks her in under the covers and gives her a fond smile. Emma tries not to let the fact that she grew up in foster care bother her, but being cared about in such a matronly way makes her feel like she was really missing out by not having parents. 

Mary Margaret turns off the lights and closes the door and Emma's asleep in a second. 

***

_"Hey, babe," Emma says, walking into Regina's kitchen at 9:30 in the morning._

_"You were tired," Regina replies with a knowing smirk. Yesterday, they had had sex almost everywhere in the mansion: the counter top, the shower, the guest bedroom, the desk in the study, Regina's bedroom, on the stairs, against a wall, the list goes on and on. Emma was especially fond of the shower sex, where Regina had used her fingers, mouth, and the shower head to get her off. That was the best orgasm she's ever had without question._

_"Ha ha," Emma mocks as she grabs the bottle of orange juice from the fridge and pours herself a glass. Regina laughs for real. "So, what are we doing today?"_

_Regina shrugs. "What do you want to do?"_

_"Other than you?" Emma asks and Regina rolls her eyes playfully. "I don't know. We could hang out, we could go somewhere. I think there's a new park nearby, we could go there," Emma suggests._

_"The park sounds lovely, dear," Regina agrees and Emma beams at her._

_And then they're sitting on the bench by the lake, the sound of children playing behind them._

_"Do you want kids?" Emma asks. They're holding hands and Emma strokes her thumb on Regina's._

_"I do. I'd love to have a little boy. I'd name him Henry, after my father," Regina says. "Do you want kids?"_

_"I don't know. Maybe." Regina raises her eyebrow and Emma shrugs. "I didn't have a very good childhood. I'm just afraid that if I had kids, I'd mess something up. Plus giving birth sounds like a bitch." Regina laughs lightly._

_"I think you'd be a great mom," Regina says softly and Emma smiles, resting her head on Regina's shoulder._

_"Not as good as you. I do like the name Henry though," Emma muses, feeling Regina press a kiss to her hair._

_"I think we'd be great parents," Regina tells her and Emma nods, smiling at the thought of raising a boy with Regina. Or a girl. It doesn't matter, Emma just wants to be with Regina._

Emma wakes up with a jerk and closes her eyes. Great, now she's dreaming about Regina. But that wasn't just a dream, it was a memory too. She remembers that day, remembers their date at the park. That was one of those days where everything felt right. 

She clenches her teeth and feels the familiar stinging in her nose. She's about to start crying again. She doesn't want to cry, she just wants to forget about Regina. So she grabs her jacket, throws on a pair of jeans, and walks to a bar where she knows they don't check ID. 

She orders a whiskey, downs it in two gulps, slams the glass on the table, and orders another one. She's going to get wasted tonight. 

"Ay, it's Swan!" someone says and Emma spins around in her chair to see Killian Jones. She finishes another drink, and another one so that she's feeling buzzed, and goes over to Killian and pulls his mouth to hers. 

Right away she notices that his lips aren't soft like Regina's. His cheeks are scruffy and his kisses are clumsy, whereas Regina's were confident and dominating. Regina had a way of making Emma swoon while Killian just feels awkward. 

But you know what they say: forget your ex with meaningless sex. 

So Emma pushes him against a wall, slipping her tongue into his mouth, almost vomiting at the taste of rum. Killian flips her around roughly, Emma winces as her shoulder blade slams into the concrete. She opens her eyes in the pain and sees Regina watching from behind Killian. 

Emma gasps and pushes Killian away, but Regina's gone. Was she actually there, or is Emma just going crazy?

"You okay, Swan?" Killian asks, sounding breathless. Emma scans the bar, but there's no sign of Regina. Her head falls against the wall; she was just imagining her. Even when she's drunk, even when she's making out with someone else, she still can't stop thinking of Regina. 

God, she misses her so much. 

She brushes past Killian, pays for the drinks, and walks to the door, but stops. There's a sign for an open mike night on Friday. It's completely free, and Emma has an idea. She pulls out her phone and sends a text to Regina. 

_Hey, I know that we're broken up, but it would mean a lot to me if you'd come to Aesop's Tables Friday Night at seven. I hope to see you there._


	18. What am I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song is "What am I" by Why Don't We

Friday night comes quicker than Emma expected it to, but it's here now, so she's standing behind a curtain, palms sweating with her guitar. She's never really had any interest in music, but everyone's always told her that she's a good singer and she took lessons when she was younger. It took her a few tries to remember the right notes, but apparently playing the guitar is like riding a bike. 

She's not sure if Regina will show up or not. Emma really hopes she does because otherwise, she will be singing for a ton of random strangers. 

"And now, put your hands together for Miss Emma Swan!" Aesop announces and Emma takes a deep breath before walking onto the small stage in the corner of the bar. She looks through the crowd and her heart leaps when she sees Regina, sitting by herself on a barstool. The professor looks extremely surprised to see Emma about to sing a song. 

"Good evening," Emma says into the mike and the crowd cheers. "This song is for a special someone." She meets Regina's eyes and the brunette quickly looks away. Emma exhales slowly before strumming the guitar. 

" _I met her on a Monday evening_

_She was standing outside of the park and ride_

_And I said, 'Hey ma, where you been?_

_Been looking for a woman like you for all my life'_

_And she said, 'Hola, talk to me_

_Before I have to leave'_

_And one day we could be_

_Maybe more than two souls just passing by_

_Knew I was falling when I looked inside your eyes_

_She said, 'I know you are, but what am I?'_

_Tell me, have you seen a sunset_

_Turn into a sunrise?_

_Kiss right through the night?_

_'Cause we should try that sometime_

_Hold you 'til the morning_

_And if I said I'm falling_

_Would you just reply_

_'I know you are, but what am I?'_

_Open the door to my apartment, we get in_

_Kissing on my neck and throw my jacket to the side_

_I know your heart is beating quick_

_And if you put your head on my chest, hear the same in mine, yeah_

_And we'll be making love_

_Until the sun comes up_

_But one day, maybe I_

_I could put a ring on your finger before you change your mind, yeah_

_Knew I was falling when I looked inside your eyes_

_She said, 'I know you are, but what am I?'_

_Tell me, have you seen a sunset_

_Turn into a sunrise?_

_Kiss right through the night?_

_'Cause we should try that sometime_

_Hold you 'til the morning_

_If I said I'm falling_

_Would you just reply_

_'I know you are, but what am I?'_

_What am I?"_

Emma voice wobbles on the last words and she breathes shakily as the crowd goes wild. She looks at Regina, who has tears streaming down her cheeks. Emma glances away to smile at everyone, but when she turns back to Regina, she's gone. She tries to hide her disappointment with a wave and she ducks backstage. 

She sets down her guitar and is slammed against a wall. It takes her a second to realize who it is, but when she sees that it's Regina, she relaxes. Regina looks up and down at her and surges forward to kiss her. Emma moans into her mouth, having missed this. 

"That was beautiful," Regina whispers between kisses and Emma grins. 

"So are we back together now?" Emma asks once they've broken apart to breathe. 

Regina playfully raises an eyebrow. "Is that what the song was? An attempt to win me back?"

Emma shrugs. "Depends. Did it work?" Regina smiles and kisses her. 

"It did, dear," Regina hums and Emma has never felt happier. "And I also got a job offer from the University of Maine, which is about thirty minutes away from here. I'm going to take it. After spring semester, we can be together and I won't have to worry about my job. And, I was thinking," Regina adds slyly, circling her arms around Emma's waist. "maybe when you're a junior and allowed to live off campus, you'd like to come move in with me?" Emma gasps. 

"I'd love that, Regina. So much. But are you sure about this new job? I don't want you to feel like you have to transfer just for me. And when did this happen? Why did you break up with me?" Emma asks and Regina bites her lip. 

"Over Thanksgiving break, I was applying for jobs in the area so we could be together sooner, but I'd gotten rejected by most of them because they were already fully staffed. I got a call today from the University of Maine saying that they needed a new physics teacher because their one is retiring. I should've told you. I'm sorry, Emma."

Emma runs her hand through Regina's hair. "It's okay, babe. I just want to be with you. I love you, Regina Mills." This time, Regina doesn't cut her off and instead beams at her. 

"I love you too, Emma Swan."

***

Six years later, Emma and Regina are sitting in their house by the fireplace. Regina’s grading papers, their two year old son, Henry, is playing with toy cars, and Emma’s looking fondly at the six month year old baby girl in her arms. They got married a year after Emma graduated, and a year after that, Regina got pregnant with Henry via a sperm donor. 

Regina suddenly laughs out loud and Henry shushes her, causing Emma to chuckle. They’ve spent so much time telling him to be quiet around the baby that he’s started doing it to them. 

”What?” Emma asks. Regina looks up with a gleam in her eye. 

”Do you know what the Law of Attraction is?” Emma groans and makes a face at the baby, who giggles and claps her hands. 

”You know I don’t, babe. And as much as it turns me on to hear you say smart, physics stuff, I stopped caring about laws and theories the moment I stepped out of your class,” Emma says and Regina rolls her eyes. 

”The Law of Attraction is the belief that the universe will provide that which you want. It’s completely untrue,” Regina explains.

”Why is that funny?”

”I had my students do a project about a law and one kid picked the Law of Attraction and he defined it as karma,” Regina says, sounding very amused. Emma shrugs. She’s not sure why this is so entertaining to Regina. 

”You’re such a nerd,” Emma says fondly. “But I’m not sure it’s completely untrue.” 

”What do you mean?” 

”Well, I wanted was you. And now I have you, and the most perfect family I ever could’ve wanted,” Emma says and Regina smiles. 

”Your mother is so sweet, isn’t she, Morgan?” Regina asks the baby girl, tickling under her chin. Morgan gurgles and Henry comes over. 

”Am I sweet, momma?” he asks and Regina scoops him up into her lap and kisses his forehead. 

”The sweetest,” she murmurs.

And wow, Emma has never been happier. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I really hoped you enjoyed it and please let me know what you thought


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